We now operate a telephone triage system for our Clinical Team. This means when you call the surgery to request a consultation, your contact details and a brief summary of your problem is taken by our reception staff. Please be aware that we have a many Clinicians in the Practice and you will be allocated to the most appropriate clinical team member for your needs and this may not always be a GP. You will be called back on the same working day anytime up to 6.30pm. If you miss the first call the Clinician will try one further time, should you then miss this call you will need to resubmit your request the following day and this will be recorded as a Failed Encounter. Two (2) or more failed encounters will lead to a DNA Warning letter. This is called ‘telephone triage’. Reception Staff are unable to book you an appointment with a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner. If it is clinically necessary for you to be seen you will be offered an appointment by the clinician after your telephone consultation with them.
You can book for the Practice Nurse, Advanced Musculosketal Practitioners ( They are highly trained, extended scope Physiotherapists and can request X rays and other investigations), Mental Health Nurse or Clinical Pharmacist (for medication reviews, BP Checks, height and weights) with the reception team in advance.
We are open from 8.00 am – 6.30 pm every weekday, but we are closed on Saturday, Sunday and Public/Bank Holidays. We do not close the surgery or switch over our telephones at lunchtime, unless we have mandatory staff training or a Whole Practice meeting (once every 3 months).
Consultations are available everyday and from 8.30am when the Nurse Practitioner is working. To speak to a clinician please telephone us or submit an online Accurx request.
Online consultation requests (Accurx) open at 8.00am for submission for either clinical help, admin requests or repeat prescription requests.
Booking an Consultation
Consultations are available Monday to Friday
We only take consultation requests for the mornings from 8am for our Doctors and the Nurse Practitioner. We also encourage patients to request a consultation by submitting an online request. Depending on the nature of your request you may be given alternative pathways for help , such as the local Pharmacy, our Hubs, NHS 111 or Urgent Treatment Centre/A&E based in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich.
Saturday hub clinics
We are part Unity PCN, our patients have access to Hub appointments for face to face or telephone appointments with a Dr or Nurse. These surgeries are held at Plumstead Health Centre, Tewson Road, Plumstead, London SE18 1BH
We try to make sure you see the doctor of your choice but if they are not available we may ask you to see another doctor or our Nurse Practitioner, who can prescribe and refer exactly the same as the Doctors.
Home visits
If you are too ill to come to the surgery and you require a visit at home, please try to call the surgery before 10.30am. Home visits take up much more of a doctor’s time than a consultation in the surgery. Requests for a home visit does not guarantee Doctor will come out to see you, they will ring you beforehand so it is important that you give the reception staff your correct contact number(s).
Lateness
Patients who are 10 minutes late for all any face to face appointment will not be seen. They will have to re-book their appointment, but it cannot be guaranteed to be on the same day. Any patient who does not attend 2 or more appointments with any of the Healthcare Professionals at the Surgery will be sent a warning letter and could potentially be removed from our register should they continue to DNA their appointments.
Missed Face to Face appointments or Telephone Consultations
This is a serious issue in the surgery with several appointments being missed and not cancelled on a daily basis by patients who DNA (do not attend) their appointment for whatever reason.
In line with the surgery policy, any patient who fails to attend 2 or more appointments or has 2 or more failed encounters when trying to call a patient back, within a 12 month period will receive a warning letter informing them that should this happen again they will be removed from our patient list.
If the patient is under 16 years old then the whole family will be removed. We have a dedicated cancellation option (option 2) on our phone line and you can cancel in person as well. If you have a booked face to face appointment you may receive a text reminder if your mobile number is current, you have the option to cancel from this reminder also.
