Appointments

If you wish to see a Doctor, please make an appointment either by calling at the surgery or telephoning. After you get through to your chosen surgery you will speak to one of our receptionists. Please be aware that they may need to ask you further, personal questions in order to get you the appropriate choice of care with an acceptable time scale. Our receptionists are bound by confidentiality agreements and are here to help you. We would appreciate your co-operation in this matter.

We do our utmost best to operate a 48-hour appointments system, which ensures you will be offered an appointment for the same day if medically urgent, or a telephone triage call with Pat our Advanced Nurse Practitioner.

A number of pre bookable slots will be available on request.

All emergency cases will be seen on the day of contact.

Please help us by cancelling any appointment you cannot attend, otherwise you may deprive other patients from getting an appointment.

Please help us by being punctual: if you are late there is no guarantee you will be seen. Remember: one appointment for one patient. Please do not bring other patients with you and expect the doctor to see more than one patient when only one appointment has been made.  Our appointment slots are 10 minutes, if you feel you need longer to discuss your current medical problems please ask for a double appointment slot. We will always try to see our patients within 20 minutes of their booked appointment time.

We are also operating an on line appointment system, to allow patients to book GP appointments. Please ask at reception for further details.

Home Visits

In a real emergency, please dial 999 and request an ambulance.

Patients whose illness prevents them from visiting the surgery can be visited in their own homes. Requests for visits should be made between 8.00 and 10.30am.

Please be ready to give the receptionist your name, address, telephone number, age and brief detail of what is wrong. The doctor may ring you back to ask you about your condition.

Please remember that the Doctor can see several people at the surgery in the time it takes to do a home visit. Lack of transport, or looking after children, is not a reason for a home visit.

Telephoning For Advice And Results

Telephone the receptionist and tell her your needs. If she cannot help, she can arrange for you to speak to a Nurse Practitioner or your Doctor, though they may not be immediately available as they may be consulting with a patient. The doctors will not take telephone calls during surgery times, other than in an emergency.

• For test results please telephone after 1.00pm.
• For advice, please telephone before 12 noon.

Patients who miss their appointments and do not inform the practice incur significant cost to the practice and to other patients in terms of lost appointments.

Middle Chare is committed to providing appointments to meet the needs of patients but we cannot replace appointments lost when a patient fails to attend.

It is our practice policy to monitor all cases of patients missing appointments (Did not Attend - DNA) so that contact can be made to understand the reasons for this failure.

A letter will be sent detailing appointments that were missed and requesting the patient

1. contact us with a reason and
2. take care to avoid a re-occurrence.

If another appointment is missed then a further letter will be sent to ask about the missed appointment and to advise that, if a further appointment is missed then the patient will be at risk of de-registration.

Please help us to help you and other patients by always cancelling an appointment you are unable to attend or no longer need.

Patient transport services (PTS) provides free transport to and from hospital or NHS provider for:
- patients with a medical need for transport;

- escorts for patients who have a medical need for an escort.

You can ring the surgery if you wish to book patient transport to hospital between 1.00pm - 5.00pm. 

Alternatively
-   Durham Travel Response Centre (TRC) is to take on the role of making 
    bookings for patients requiring non-emergency transport across North
    Durham;
-   To make a transport booking, patients, their family members or carers will
    need to dial 03000 269 999, where they will be taken through the national
    eligibility criteria by a TRC call handler to ensure there is a medical  need for
    transport;
-   Once eligibility is confirmed, TRC will then complete the booking via the North
    East Ambulance Service's on-line booking portal.

This service will be available for use between the hours of 9.00 a.m. to
5.00 p.m., Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

Please only ask for transport if you have a medical need for transport or a medical need for an escort.
Your local patient transport service is only for those with a medical need.

Thank you.

All patients, including children will be allocated a named accountable GP.

What does 'accountable' mean?

Requires the named accountable GP to take responsibility for the co-ordination of all appropriate services required and ensure they are delivered to each of their patients where required (based on the clinical judgement of the named accountable GP).

The contract remains 'practice based', so overall responsibility for patient care has not changed. This is largely a role of oversight, with the requirements being introduced to reassure patients that they have one GP within the practice who is responsible for ensuring that this work is carried out on their behalf. 

All newly registering patients will be allocated a named accountable GP on registration.

What are the named GP's responsibilities to 75s and over

This is unchanged from 2014-2015; for patients aged 75 and over the named accountable GP is responsible for working with relevant associated health and social care professionals to deliver a multi-disciplinary care package that meets the needs of the patient ensuring that these patients have access to a health check as set out in section 7.9 of the GMS Contract Regulations.

Does the requirement mean 24-hour responsibility for patients?

No. The named GP will not take on vicarious responsibility for the work of other doctors or health professionals take on 24-hour responsibility for the patient, or have to change their working hours. The requirement does not imply personal availability for GPs throughout the working week be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient

Can patients choose their own named GP?

In the first instance, patients should simply be allocated a named GP. However, if a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable efforts should be made to accommodate their preference, recognising that there are occasions when the practice may not feel the patient's preference is suitable.

Do patients have to see the named GP when they book an appointment with the practice?

No. Patients can and should feel free to choose to see any GP or nurse in the practice in line with current arrangements. However, some practices may see this change as a way to encourage and promote a greater degree of continuity of care for patients.

If the reason for your appointment involves being examined in an area of the body which you might find embarrassing, or even if it's just to discuss something you would feel awkward about talking about, we are always very happy to arrange for a chaperone to be present.