Appointments

Personal Consultations - By Appointment

Consultations are by appointment only. The majority of our appointments are available to book up to 4 weeks in advance. Although you are entitled to see any doctor we would prefer you to see the same doctor each time you attend with an ongoing problem, as this helps the doctor to get to know you and your medical history in order to provide you with better medical care.

An appointment may be made by:

• Telephoning the surgery:
  • St Nicholas' Surgery, Withernsea 0844 477 3562
  • St Patrick's Surgery, Patrington 0844 477 3572
  • The Surgery, Roos 01964 671999
• Asking the receptionist in the surgery.
• On-line by following the link below - registration at the surgery is required for this service

Practice Nurses

You can have an appointment with the nurse without seeing a doctor. In addition to normal nursing duties, our practice nurses provide treatment, carry out diagnostic tests, give advice on healthy lifestyle, provide contraceptive advice and treatment, monitor hormone replacement therapy, do pill checks, take smears and monitor and manage a range of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases that can be managed by our practice nurses include asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke prevention, heart disease prevention and COPD.

If you cannot attend an appointment please notify the surgery as soon as possible. This saves the doctors’ time and may allow other patients to be seen. Always allow one appointment for each person to be seen.

Urgent Appointments

Patients requiring urgent medical attention will always be seen. Please do not insist on an urgent appointment unless you are in genuine need as you could be preventing a person with a serious condition from seeing the doctor at that time. We encourage advanced booking of appointments whenever possible. Many of our same day urgent appointments are with our Nurse Practitioner. Should all the appointments be booked, the receptionist will take your name and telephone number and will ask a doctor or nurse to call you back to ascertain if there is a medical need for you to be seen the same day. This is a medical decision not a matter of preference.

Telephone Advice

The doctors and practice nurses are happy to discuss problems or give advice over the telephone. Please ring as early in the day as possible. The doctor may not be able to reply until later in the day. When asking for a specific doctor to call you we can not always guarantee the call will be returned the same day.

Telephone Call Charges

For most patients there is little or no difference in the price between calling the 0844 number and our old local number. Prices do vary, but according to BT, standard rate tariff calls from a BT Landline to a local number for the surgery during opening hours would cost 3.9p per minute plus a 2.9p call set up fee. Pay as you go mobiles can be expensive.

Test Results

The receptionists can advise you that the result of your test is normal or ask you to make an appointment with your doctor. Please call after 2.00pm.

When making an appointment about a test result always make the appointment with the doctor who requested it. To protect confidentiality we only give results to you personally.

Referrals

If you have not heard about a referral to hospital or are concerned about a hospital waiting list, please do not make an appointment with a doctor. The practice secretary will look into such matters and will advise you of the outcome of her investigation.

Patient Choice

If you need to go to hospital to see a specialist, you have the right to choose which hospital you're referred to by your GP. This legal right, which was introduced in April 2009, lets you choose from any hospital offering a suitable treatment that meets NHS standards and costs. 

The surgery has supported this policy for a number of years by using the choose and book system.

If you should decide to go to a hospital somewhere else in the country other than locally you should note that all follow up appointments will be at this hospital.

For more information, click here to visit the NHS Choices website.

Home Visits

Whenever possible, please come to the surgery as more facilities are available. If a home visit is necessary because you are too ill or infirm to get to the surgery, please request it before 11.00am. Requests for home visits after 11.00am may be deferred until the next day.

Home visits are at the discretion of the doctor. A difficulty in organising transport is not a reason to request a home visit. A child with a raised temperature does not come to any harm from attending the surgery. Sick children will always be seen as soon as possible if brought to the surgery.

Many problems are not best treated at the GP surgery. By attending one of these alternative services you can help keep appointments available for those who require to be seen at the surgery.

Minor Ailment Scheme

This is available in most community pharmacies in the East Riding. This is a free service and those people who are exempt from prescription charges will be able to obtain medication without charges. For many minor illnesses and ailments it is often most convenient to discuss your problem with a participating pharmacist first.

Minor ailments & illnesses treated include:

Acne                Head lice                Athletes foot                Cold sores

Indigestion        Insect bites             mouth ulcers                cough

cystitis             nappyrash               Pain                             diarrhoea

sore throat         worms                    Eye conditions             eczema 

hay fever            thrush                   Warts                           teething

                                       constipation 

Information sheets regarding this service are available at the surgery. Please consider using this service before booking a GP appointment for all conditions outlined above.

Minor Injury Unit

The Withernsea MIU is open 9-5 Monday to Friday and at the weekend by appointment only (0845 0568060). Conditions treated include:

cuts and grazes  sprains and strains broken bones

bites and stings   minor head injuries   Minor eye trauma

  Small burns

These problems are best assessed at the minor injury unit where diagnostic equipments plus treatments are readily available.

Please do not attend the Minor Injury Unit with minor illnesses these are often best dealt with by visiting the local pharmacy.

The Minor Injury Unit is not equipped or staffed to deal with more serious illnesses please do not attend the unit with chest pain , respiratory problems, abdominal pain , gynaecological problems, pregnancy problems, drug overdose, alcohol related problems and mental health problems,

Dental Problems

Your GP has little experience in dealing with dental problems. You should always consult a qualified dentist for ALL dental problems. If you do not have a NHS Dentist the PCT can assist you in finding one..

In an emergency, an evening, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday service is available 365 days per year. Please call 0845 056 8298

Your doctor will not routinely issue antibiotics for dental problems without you first consulting a dentist.

Many health issues can often be dealt with on the telephone rather than you having to attend the surgery. If you feel that a telephone consultation would be sufficient please let the receptionist know and a GP will call you back that day. Please ensure you provide a telephone number which you will be contactable on to the surgery. If you wish a particular doctor to call you back we can not always guarantee this will be on the same day.

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced