Care Navigation
The right care from the right person, first time
When you ring to book an appointment, you might notice our reception team will ask
you for a brief outline of how we can help you.
This is because we have introduced something called Care Navigation. It means our
reception team has been trained to ensure they can help you to find the best service for your
needs, so you can receive the right care more quickly. Anything you share with our team will
be kept confidential.
Through this specialist training, our team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate
clinician or service for your needs.
Our reception team will never offer clinical advice. Instead, this new way of working is about
offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals in our practice team or even
somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means
you may not need to see a GP at all.
Your website
By working this way, it helps to free-up time for GPs to care for patients with complex or
serious health conditions that can only be managed by a doctor. More importantly though, it
means people are seen first by the clinician that is best placed to help you with your health
needs.
Helping you to choose
The choice is always yours though. It is completely up to you if you want to share
information with our reception team.
You will never be refused a GP appointment but we hope next time you contact our practice
and speak with our reception team you will see the value of seeing another healthcare
professional if they are able to help.
You can find out more about Care Navigation by taking a look at our frequently asked
questions, by picking up a leaflet or by speaking to a member of our practice team.
Useful links
Care Navigation leaftlet.docx.pdf
Care Navigation - FAQs (for patients).pdf
Telephones
If you know which option you need when you contact the surgery via phone you don’t need to wait for the prompt to select your number. As soon as the recorded message starts press the correct number and you will be transferred directly to the correct department. Below are the available options.
Option 1 - Emergencies (only for medical emergencies, no other calls will be taken on this line)
Option 2 - Appointments/Reception
Option 3 - Home Visits
Emergencies
If a doctor is required in an emergency telephone 01274584223
Home Visits If you are too ill to attend surgery and need to request a home visit please contact the surgery before 10:00 a.m.
The Emerald Suite
The Emerald Suite runs specialist services, some of which are hospital services that are run in the community rather than at hospital. Access to these services is via the GP.
Cancelling your Appointment
If you are unable to attend an appointment with one of the doctors or nurses, please telephone or use the link at the bottom of this page to cancel your appointment.
New Patients
If you wish to register with us please telephone or call in and make an appointment to see the practice nurse for a new patient interview. You will be asked to complete a registration form and you will need to bring 2 forms of identification e.g. passport and recent utility bill.
Up to Date Information
For many of our patients we don’t have up-to-date details of Smoking and Alcohol consumption. It would be of great assistance to us if you could click on the link at the bottom of the page “Your Clinical Record” and fill in these details. Please be assured that this is confidential.
Research
Windhill Green Medical practice is involved in clinical research with the Primary Care Research Network. As a patient you may be invited to participate however you can decline or later withdraw without there being any question that this will affect your future care and treatment at the practice.
Prescriptions
Following guidance from the Department of Health regarding safety issues surrounding telephone ordering from the 5th November 2012 the practice will no longer be able to accept telephone requests for repeat prescriptions.
There are many ways in which you can order you repeat prescription. The most effective way is online and you can also book GP appointments too! Just ask reception how to sign up. You can also leave your repeat order slip at reception or post the slip, ticking exactly what you need. Alternatively you can ask a chemist to order them on your behalf on a monthly basis.
SystmOnline Changes
If you are registered for using SystmOnline, you will now be able to access basic information held within your medical record. The information held is as secure as your entire medical record, the data is stored in the same way.