Services
Click on the links at the left for pages devoted to services for children, adults and specific disease clinics, as well as our private (non-NHS) work. Our other services, applying to all groups of patients, are listed below:
Appointments
Telephone Advice
Home Visits
Out-of-Hours
Repeat Prescriptions
Minor Surgery
Travel Advice
Complaints, Comments and Suggestions
Appointments
All of the clinical staff (with the exception of the health visitors’ Baby Clinic, and the Family Planning Drop-in Clinic) operate an appointment system for consultations. To book, cancel or change an appointment either come in to the surgery or telephone (0118) 957 1781.
If you are unable to attend your appointment, please make sure you inform us as soon as possible so we can offer it to someone else. We waste about 180 appointments every month as a result of patients simply not turning up, so please try not to add to this statistic!
We do our best to ensure doctors’ and nurses’ appointments are not booked up too far in advance (our average is 2 to 3 working days), but if you feel your problem is too urgent to wait until the next routine appointment please tell the receptionist, and they will fit you in on the end of one of the surgeries that day. All we ask is that you do not abuse this system simply to ‘jump the queue’.
If more than one member of your household needs to be seen, make sure each has a separate appointment.
Telephone Advice
The doctors are all happy to give telephone advice, when it is appropriate. In order not to interrupt the doctor’s surgery you may be asked to phone back at a specific time, or we may call you back if you leave us a contact number. Please do not call us for routine enquiries before 10am, as this is when we are busiest dealing with urgent problems.
Advice is also available 24 hours a day from NHS Direct (tel.0845 46 47). This service is also available on-line (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk).
Home Visits
These can only be offered to patients who are housebound or too ill to come to surgery. Home visits are an extremely inefficient way for doctors to see patients (it takes about four times as long, and little medical equipment is available), so we always encourage patients to do everything they can to come to us (eg. using a taxi, or a neighbour, for a lift).
If possible make sure you request the visit before 10am. After 10am it is harder for the doctor to fit the visits into the middle of the day, and it may have to wait until the following working day.
Out-of-Hours
When the surgery is closed a doctor is still available for medical emergencies. If you need a doctor out-of-hours then ‘phone the surgery enquiry line on (0118) 959 0257 and an answering machine message will tell you how to contact the emergency doctor and, with our new telephone system, you will be redirected without having to redial.
Repeat Prescriptions
Many patients on regular medication are permitted to request repeat prescriptions without the need for an appointment - although periodically we may ask you to make an appointment for review of your health and treatment. Patients who are new to the surgery will need to have been seen by a doctor before they will be able to get any regular prescriptions prescribed by us.
All prescription requests must be made in writing (for safety reasons we do not accept telephone requests), and please allow two working days for us to prepare your prescription. We are very happy to deal with requests by post, and if you enclose a stamped-addressed envelope we will send your prescription back to you. We can also now accept prescription requests through this website: Click on the Prescriptions link in the navigation bar at the left for more information on this.
Minor Surgery
Many types of minor operation are available in the surgery. These include the removal of moles and other skin lesions, cryotherapy (freezing treatment usually used for warts), in-growing toe-nails, injections of joints and surrounding structures (for tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, etc.) and incision of abscesses.
Travel Advice and Vaccinations
We offer the full range of travel vaccinations, including Yellow Fever, and our nursing staff are always happy to advise on the requirements for your trip. They will also advise on malaria prevention, and other health issues which may be relevant to your journey.
Some vaccinations will require boosters before you travel, so please always consult the nurse at the earliest opportunity after you have planned your journey.
Please note that many travel vaccinations are not NHS services and therefore attract a fee. Details are available at reception or from the nurses.
We would ask that you complete a travel risk assessment form and bring it with you to your appointment. It will enable the nurses to give you the best possible advice, keeping you safe on your travels. They are available in the surgery and will be available to download from the website.
Complaints, Comments and Suggestions
Our aim is to give our patients the highest possible standard of service, and we always welcome feedback, both positive and negative, from our patients. The practice operates a complaints procedure which complies with nationally set standards for NHS general practices.
If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints to make about any aspect of our service, please speak or write to the Practice Manager.
We will note your comment, and in the case of complaints we will send you an acknowledgement within 3 working days, investigate it and provide a full response within 10 working days.
Please note that there are two other sources of help if you have any problems with any aspect of your NHS care:
* PALS - the Patient Advice and Liaison Service - Tel: 0118 9822829
E-mail: readingpct.pals@berkshire.nhs.uk
* ICAS - Independent Complaints Advocacy Service - Tel: 0845 600 8616
E-mail: berkshire.icas@dsl.pipex.com
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