The Barton Surgery operates an appointment system to see the doctors and practice nurses.

Appointments with the nurse can be booked in advance up to 8 weeks ahead.

Appointments for the doctors are treated slightly differently.  50% of appointments with the doctor can be booked 4 weeks ahead and the rest are available for ‘same day’ booking and become available when the surgery opens at 08.30am each day.  These appointments go very quickly as we have 8 telephone lines.  All the appointments for Monday are ‘same day’ bookings only, which helps to deal with the many health problems, which have arisen over the weekend.

Every afternoon the duty doctor operates an ‘emergency’ surgery.  These are 5 minute appointments and are designed to deal with acute problems, such as ear aches, chest infections, etc.  These appointments are not long enough to deal with chronic health problems. 

It is important to decide which sort of booking you need to make with the doctor.

If you know you are going to need to see the doctor, eg if the doctor asks to see you again in, say, 3 weeks, please book ahead because if you wait until the day the doctor needs to see you it may not be possible to get an appointment.  This causes frustration for the patient when the receptionist says the doctor is fully booked that day.

You may find that you have a longer wait if you wish to see a particular doctor, rather than booking into the next available appointment with whoever is available.  This is your choice, but you must understand that this may make your wait longer.

There are others you may wish to consult as an alternative to seeing the doctor:

·         The practice sister
·         NHS Direct on 0845 4647 where specially trained nurse advisers are available to take your call 24 hours a day or access their website www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
·         The local pharmacist
·         Minor injuries can be dealt with by the nursing team in the Minor Injuries Department of Dawlish Community Hospital
·        Self help for simple problems, eg colds, sickness and diarrhoea – call after a few days if symptoms are not improving

TO MAKE THE SYSTEM WORK FOR EVERYONE WE NEED YOUR CO-OPERATION

·         Please do not insist on being seen urgently with minor illnesses that could wait
·         Please inform the receptionist if you cannot keep or no longer need your appointment so that it can be offered to someone else
·         Please be on time
·         It is one appointment per patient
·         Do not store multiple problems for one consultation slot
·         If you think your problem will need extra time, ask the receptionist for a longer appointment

Please inform the receptionist if you are feeling unwell or if you have brought a sick or ill child into the waiting areas.

All the staff at the surgery work very hard to ensure the smooth running of a very busy surgery.  Please be assured we are doing our best to help you, but sometimes it may not be possible to give everyone exactly what they want, due to the demands on the service we provide.