PATIENT TRIAGE
Patient triage has been designed to ensure that patients have appointments with the most appropriate clinician at the surgery according to their clinical needs.
Rather than waiting for the reception team to answer your call, patient triage will be an easy way for you to contact the practice for all appointments or admin requests for yourself or someone you care for. The patient triage form is open from 7am until 3pm or if we have reached capacity.
When completing the patient triage form please try to give as much information as possible.
On the day you need the appointment, please follow the below instructions or complete the patient triage form via your NHS app.
Currently we are not offering advanced routine GP appointments. All GP appointments, whether urgent or routine, are offered as same day.
If you want to see a particular GP, please navigate to the home page and click on team to see the days that our GP’s work, then fill out the triage form on the day you wish to see that GP.
Completing the form
- Go to patient triage contact us online to go directly to the patient triage form
- Select either admin (repeat prescriptions, sick notes, referrals, GP letters, general queries) or medical request (appointments and same day urgent appointments)
- Complete the patient triage form, giving as much information as possible
- Confirm how you would like to be contacted, and your availability
- Enter your details
- Submit
Your patient triage form will be processed by our triage team in the surgery and you will be contacted via your stated method of contact on the patient triage form, with an appointment or further directional information.
We no longer offer same day urgent appointments at 8am or 2pm.
Once we have reached full capacity for the day, you will be asked to contact us the following day with a new patient triage form or call 111, if urgent.
If patients do not have access to the internet, a smart phone or the NHS App, then they can contact the surgery on 01225 613100 and one of our receptionists will fill out the patient triage form on their behalf.
Unfortunately, we are unable to give a specific time the clinician will call, If you are booked in for your telephone appointment in the morning you should receive your call before 2pm. If you are booked in for your telephone appointment in the afternoon the clinician will ring you between 2pm and 6pm.
The clinician will attempt to call you 3 times. If you are unable to answer your phone on the 2nd occasion, your telephone appointment will be marked as DNA (did not attend) and you will need to call again and make another appointment. Please keep your phone charged and in range.
Missed face to face appointments that are booked by the GP waste valuable clinical time. If you are not able to make your appointment, please do call/email or complete a admin patient triage form, to let us know, as we may be able to offer your appointment to another patient, even up to the last minute, though we would prefer as much notice as possible.
Cancelling or changing an appointment
If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason or you will not be available for a booked telephone appointment with a GP, please inform us as soon as possible via admin patient triage, please use the admin form, in order for us to give the slot to someone else, alternatively you can cancel via your NHS App.
Missed appointments
The impact of patients failing to attend appointment can be significant and may result in you not being able to see a particular GP on the day that you wish to.
In an attempt to try and resolve this, the practice has developed the following policy:
- If you fail to attend two consecutive appointments without informing us, we will write to you asking whether there are specific problems preventing you from letting us know.
Text message reminders
Heart of Bath offer a text messaging service to inform patient about appointments and health care. When you initially register consent is obtained, if you are a long standing patient and you wish to register or decline for this messaging service please contact us.
Emergencies
If you have a life threatening emergency, please dial 999 and call an ambulance. If you have a medical problem, that needs same day attention but is not life threatening, please complete a medical patient triage form.
If you need help when we are closed
If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.
NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.
Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.
Home visits
It is preferable to see patients at the surgery, whenever possible, as examinations and investigations can be carried out more fully there. However, if you are too ill to attend surgery and need a home visit, the surgery should be contacted as early as possible. Your details will be passed to the on call doctor who will telephone to offer immediate advice prior to a visit being arranged.
Out of area patients
Patients still registered with this surgery but live outside our practice boundary will not be entitled to a GP home visit if needed. If you are an out of area patient and you cannot get to the surgery to see a GP and need a GP home visit you will need to phone 111 to arrange this.
