Consultations are by appointment only, which can be made on-line, by telephone (01884 252333) or in person. The partners run a personal list system and you will be encouraged to see your own GP but, in urgent cases, this may not be possible.

Generally:

• The first part of each morning surgery will offer appointments, which will be available for you to book in advance.
• The second part of each morning surgery will offer appointments, which you will only be able to book on the day.
• The majority of afternoon surgeries are available for advance bookings.
• Each day we have a ‘Duty Doctor’ who provides cover for GPs on leave, covers the minor injuries unit at Tiverton & District Hospital and deals with any emergencies and home visits arising throughout the day.
• The Duty Doctor provides a triage service as well as emergency surgeries throughout the day. Telephone triage is undertaken in order to prioritise requests for same day appointment.
• Details of your problem will be taken by the receptionist and one of the Duty Doctors will contact you to help solve it. You may be offered advice, an appointment or a visit depending on the nature and urgency of your problem.

Exceptions:

• We alter our appointment arrangements for the day following a Bank Holiday, reducing the number of advance bookings and making more appointments available on the day.

Length of Appointments:

• Routine GP appointments are booked at 10 minute intervals. If you have several issues to discuss with your GP or you would like to discuss a complex issue, you may prefer to book a ‘double appointment’ of 20 minutes duration.

• Being on time for your appointment and checking in with the receptionist
• Letting us know if you need to cancel (Cancellations can be made by email, please see our website for further details)
• Making separate appointments for each member of the family that needs to be seen
• Calling for a home visit or urgent appointment before 11.00am

In return:

• Surgeries will normally start on time
• When a doctor is called away on an emergency or is running late, we will inform you and give you the opportunity to wait or book another appointment.
• We usually expect patients to be seen within twenty minutes of their appointment time. Please ask at reception if you are kept waiting longer than this.
• We will comply with NHS targets in respect of providing 24 hour and 48 hour access to appointments with Doctors and other health professionals.

Appointment Reminders

We can now send you a text message reminding you of any appointments booked at the practice.

Cancelling Appointments

We have a separate telephone line which enables you to leave a message cancelling your appointment. The phone line is open 24 hours a day and messages are checked regularly by the reception team.

If you are unable to keep your appointment or no longer need your appointment, please call 01884-244707.

Appointments can also be cancelled on-line, using the EMIS Access service.

Cancel your appointment online (no registration required)

EMIS ACCESS

Please note if you use EMIS Access to order repeat medication or make appointments the company which provides the service has moved the site to a new url. To use EMIS Access you will now need to go to 

https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk

All short-cuts on the website have been updated to direct you to this new site.  

If you have any problems using the new site please email castleplacepractice@nhs.net

In the course of treating you, you will often have blood or other tests arranged by your doctor. The results are rarely available immediately. Blood results can take 1 to 14 days depending upon their nature, and x-ray and scan results can take 7 to 14 days to arrive after the test.

You can obtain your results by telephoning the surgery after 11.00am. A normal result will be reported directly to you. If the result is abnormal you may be advised to discuss this with your doctor.

The results of cervical smear tests will be sent to you in writing, but can take up to six weeks.

Please note that for reasons of confidentiality we are unable to discuss any medical details with anyone other than the patient concerned, unless we have express permission from the patient or their GP.