Appointments
There is a lot of important information on this page. Please read the whole page so that you are completely familiar with our appointment system, there are many options for accessing our service. You can book an appointment by telephone, in person or online (please contact reception to request a PIN number if you wish to register for this service).
You can book a routine appointment with a doctor, nurse prescriber or nurse up to 1 week in advance.
Same day appointments are available every day except Saturday and are for one problem only. Please try and telephone between 8.45 am and 9.45 am for these appointments. Please be prepared to indicate the nature of the problem if requested so that we can offer you the most appropriate appointment.
Nurses
The nurses can deal with a wide range of problems, including contraception, emergency contraception, sexual health, colds, sore throats, asthma, acne, cuts, cystitis, thrush etc. Please inquire at reception to see if a nurse can help you.
Doctors
Appointment times are usually between 8.30am and 4.30pm, depending on the day of the week. Routine appointments are 10 minutes long and the doctor will deal with as many problems as she/he is able to within the time. We also offer appointments on Monday and Thursday evenings, and on Saturday mornings. If you have an ongoing problem it is usually best to see the same doctor each time, but please be aware that some doctors are part-time and therefore are not available every day. Please try and plan ahead as far as possible.
Attendance
You need to let us know when you have arrived for your appointment, either by informing the receptionist or by using the automated check-in screen. If you do not do this, the doctor will assume that you have missed your appointment and will not call you from the waiting room.
Please ensure that you arrive in good time for your appointment – if you arrive late, you will have less time with the doctor. If you are more than 10 minutes late you will have missed your appointment completely and will need to book again for another time.
There is always a high demand for appointments during University term-times, so if you are unable to keep your appointment, please let us know in advance so that we can offer it to someone else.
Telephone Consultations
For all types of appointments, you can request to have a telephone consultation instead of coming into the practice. You will need to give the receptionist a contact telephone number when you book the appointment. Please note that telephone consultations are only appropriate for problems that do not require any kind of physical examination. Some medication reviews may be suitable for a telephone consultation.
Online Booking
Routine appointments with the doctors and nurses can be booked online. You will need to request a PIN number from reception in order to access this service. Once you have been set up to use the service, you may also use it to request repeat prescriptions, notify us of any change of address and send us messages.
Chaperones
Male and female doctors are available and a nurse chaperone can accompany you if you wish. Please ask at reception or tell the doctor or nurse if you have a preference.
Home Visits
Daytime Visits
If you are too ill to come into the surgery to see a doctor please telephone us. A nurse will take the details of your symptoms, and arrange for a doctor to visit you if necessary. Your problem can be assessed more accurately if you telephone us personally, but if this is not possible, please give the person telephoning for you as much information as possible about your symptoms.
Night-time Visits
If you need urgent treatment or advice after 6.30pm which cannot wait until the following morning, a doctor is always on call. If you ring us out of surgery hours, you will be connected to a recorded message. This will tell you how to contact the doctor on call. You'll usually be given the number of our 24 hour Telephone Answering Service, which is manned by trained operators who will take your name, address, telephone number and details of your symptoms to pass on to the doctor. The service can get very busy, so please be patient if your call is not answered immediately.
When the doctor on call receives your message from the answering service, they will telephone you back, so keep the line free.
"Out of hours" (between 6.30pm and 8.00am) is available to manage a problem which cannot wait for an urgent appointment at Student health in the morning.