Revised Appointment System
The Practice has reviewed the existing appointment system and will be making some changes with effect from 4th June 2007. These changes are partly as a response to our recent patient survey, and we hope to improve access, and phone calls, for acute medical conditions and also improve care for patients with long-term conditions. As a consequence we will provide a new acute short appointment opportunity and this, in turn, will relieve the pressure on appointments for treatment of patients with chronic conditions.

The Practice would like to invite patients to attend an information evening at Dartmouth Community College on Thursday 10th May or at the sugery on Monday 14th May. Bother evenings will take place between 5 and 7pm. These eveings will be an opportunity for us to explain the new system and to discuss any other issues which you would like to raise.

The appointments structure will now be such that 50% of appointments with a GP can be booked in advance, 25% will be bookable 48 hours in advance and the remaining 25% will be bookable on the day. This will ensure a larger proportion of appointments can be booked in advance, which was the main request from our survey.

In addition to this will will be introducing a 'duty doctor' shift every day. This doctor will see emergency and acute conditions on the day and will not be pre-booked. The duty doctor will also take phonecalls from those patients who feel a 'face to face' consultation is not necessary, or who just require information.