Cancellation of Appointment
Provision of an efficient service is dependent on us working together with you, the patient. Please remember to cancel your appointment, giving 24 hours notice. This enables the appointment to be used by someone else. If you are late for an appointment, you may be asked to make another appointment.
Change of address
It is your responsibility to inform us of change of address. If you move and do not inform the practice, there is a danger you will be removed from our list by Health Authority procedures. You can do this by completing our change personal details form. Alternatively, you may phone, post or email your change of address details to us.
If you have a referral to a hospital waiting, you must inform them separately of your new address. Failure to do so could delay and sometimes cancel a referral. This is the most common delay when waiting for a referral date to come through.
Lateness Policy
We understand that sometimes circumstances can make patients late for their appointments. The practice will, as far as possible, try to accommodate patients who arrive late for appointments, but may on occasion advise latecomers to rebook out to respect for other patients and to ensure that clinicians and surgeries run to time as far as possible. Whilst we appreciate patients phoning ahead to let us know they are running late, this may not necessarily affect the outcome depending on how late the patient arrives.
The practice will monitor and record the incidence of lateness within the clinical system. Persistent late attendees may be issued with warning letters.
The following general provisions will apply:
- Less than 5 minutes late: You will be marked in as an arrival to your pre-booked slot. The doctor or nurse will call at the first available opportunity. Please be aware that in such circumstances, it is unlikely that you will be able to discuss multiple problems.
- More than 5 minutes, less than 8 minutes late: Please report directly to reception as you will no longer be able to book in using the automatic sign-in machine. Reception will discuss your arrival with the clinician you are due to see to check whether you can be accommodated or if you should be asked to rebook.
- More than 8 minutes late: You will be marked as “Late for appointment” (9N4P) and will be advised to rebook.
- More than 15 minutes late:- You have missed your appointment and will be marked as “Did Not Attend”.
The practice will not, at this stage, differentiate between patients who are persistently late and others. This will be dealt with as a separate policy.
Late Running Clinics
We understand that from time to time our clinicians will also be running late. We will do our best to minimise this. Please let reception know if you have been waiting more than 20 minutes for an appointment. You may be asked to rebook or scheduled in with another clinician depending on the reason for the lateness.