Appointments
Find details on our appointment system including opening hours and what to do if we are full or when we are closed.
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Opening hours
Our normal opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 6.30pm. Appointments are generally held between 8.30am and 6.00pm.
Extended hours operates on Wednesdays until 7.30pm. These appointments are booked in advance.
Extended access (hub) appointments are available every evening till 8.00pm and every weekend morning till 11.45am including all bank holidays. These appointments are booked in advance.
Out of hours when we are closed, please ring 111 . For more options, please see our out of hours section.
Important info
We are not a walk-in / turn-up / emergency service. Please book first to see us MORE INFO ➕
We would ask that all patients contact us by phone rather than just turn up at the surgery. This will mean you are less likely to be kept waiting. We have a doctor on duty daily and will always deal with urgent and serious problems the same day.
Appointments are to discuss one problem only MORE INFO ➕
Doctor's appointments are normally 10 minutes long. If you need to discuss further issues, please ask for a double appointment when you book. This helps the doctors to run on time and helps to prevent other patients from waiting excessively. Download an information poster .
Ring 999 if you have acute severe chest pain, or suspect a stroke MORE INFO ➕
If you have these symptoms or other emergency conditions, please do not ring for an appointment. Check our page on medical conditions for more information or visit our symptom checker for other conditions that may need emergency treatment.
Use our symptom checker or check our help page to ensure you get the right help MORE INFO ➕
Our symptom checker, help pages and team pages are provided to help you get the most appropriate help from the right person as quickly as possible. It is a guide showing you who you can turn to first, or where you can first go for help.
Options if we are full SHORTCUT ivy.gs/full
If we have reached safe capacity for the day and we are full, there are other options for getting the help that you need.
If you feel you are poorly, please check for symptoms of serious illness that need urgent medical attention or see if you may be able to wait until the next available appointment.
If you are looking for information on Group A Strep, please visit our information page.
Attend another service
Self-refer to the right service or person ⧉ Urgent treatment centre (UTC) ⧉ When to visit an UTC ⧉ 999 for life-threatening conditions ⧉ A&E for medical emergencies ⧉ In a mental health crisis ⧉ 111 for advice ⧉ Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline Get the right help leaflet Find a phone number you need ⧉
Get trusted medical info
NHS A-Z of conditions ⧉ Patient.info health topics ⧉
Find out what to do online
NHS 111 online triage ⧉ Patient.info symptom checker ⧉ Ivy Grove symptom checker ⧉ Cancer (red flag) symptoms ⧉ Symptoms of serious illness ⧉ Is my child poorly? ⧉ Find out about and try self-care ⧉ Get support for your mental health ⧉ Help page - what each worker does ⧉
Read an info leaflet
Downloads page ⧉ Ivy Grove minor illness leaflets ⧉ Self-help mental health leaflets ⧉ Self-care Forum factsheets ⧉ Is my child poorly? leaflet
Acute Care Clinic appointments
Every weekday morning we hold an acute care clinic for patients who feel they need to be assessed the same day. If you feel you are in this group, please ring reception on the number above. MORE INFO ➕
- Acute care clinic information
- This service runs Monday to Friday mornings
- This clinic is designed to reduce appointment waiting times for those patients who need to see us sooner
- It should also reduce pressure on phones as patients will not need to keep ringing back at 8am every day
- It is for things like chest infections, childhood illness, skin conditions, acute pain, headache that may need attention sooner
- This clinic is only for quick problems that have come on recently
- Or for longer-term problems that have suddenly got worse
- If you have a stable long-term problem or need a general review, please book a routine appointment
- This clinic is not a replacement for self-care and self-help - visit , ivy.gs/help and ivy.gs/team
- There is no pre-booking of appointments before the day - please ring on the day itself
- Please do not just turn up at the desk expecting to be assessed - we are not a walk-in service
- Due to the clinic being extremely busy, we cannot guarantee that we will call you at a specific time, however, we aim to call all patients during the session
- The doctor will make two attempts to call you during the session - if you do not answer you will need to rebook
- Please always ring us for an appointment in the clinic
- Once you have an appointment booked, you may have to wait but you will definitely be assessed on the day
- The clinic is extremely busy so we ask for your patience - you will be assessed in due course
- Patients may be assessed out of turn according to clinical priority
- We cannot guarantee that you will be assessed by any particular doctor
- If your problem is not appropriate for the acute care clinic, you will be advised accordingly
- We encourage self-help; please download minor illness leaflets written by our doctors at ivy.gs/downloads
- Please use this service responsibly, otherwise it may be withdrawn without notice
If we are full for the day and you still require an assessment, our receptionist will liaise with the doctor on duty who will advise on how your condition will be dealt with in the appropriate manner. Please note that when we are already full, any appointment provided will be on the basis of clinical need and urgency only.
Acute care clinic information Top tips for acute care clinicRoutine appointments
The rest of our appointments are routine pre-bookable appointments, and can be booked up to 4 weeks in advance. Our late evening appointment slots are generally for the benefit of those who work during the day. These appointments are for generally non-urgent problems that can wait several days or weeks until we are next available.
Telephone appointments
Telephone appointments can be booked for issues which:
- Do not require examination
- Are straight-forward
- Can be completed within 5 minutes
- You are certain about
Examples of suitable reasons for telephone appointments:
- Reviews of some long term conditions (e.g., thyroid disorder)
- Administrative requests and forms (e.g., sick notes)
- Minor illness advice
- Simple medication requests or advice on medication
Online consultation information
We use the accuRx patient messaging system extensively to consult with our patients regarding tests, results and medications and to manage various long-term conditions such as blood pressure, asthma, chronic bronchitis. We use multi-stage text messaging to elicit responses from our patients and agree treatment plans with them. We also use the service to signpost patients to information, leaflets and links to our website as part of an overall care strategy.
Regarding 'online consultations', after an extremely unsatisfactory experience with a previous online consultation service, which actually led to a severe degradation in our services, we are currently exploring other online consultation options.
We wish to offer our patients a comprehensive service that includes online consultations, but this will only be when we are completely satisfied that by introducing such a service, the way we work will continue to be safe for our patients and our staff. Please therefore bear with us whilst we perform our due digilence and careful planning.
Please come back later for updates.
Hub appointments
Extra appointments are available every weekday evening and weekend mornings including all bank holidays.
Appointments at the hub- Provided by Amber Valley Health ⧉
- Held at Church Farm Primary Care Centre
- Evening & weekend appointments
- Includes all bank holidays
- May see doctor/nurse from any neighbouring practice
- Ring reception to book
Missed and late appointments
Missed appointments waste huge amounts of time and effort. Nationally, missed appointments cost the NHS over half a billion pounds a year, which is enough to run two hospitals. The total number of missed appointments in this surgery alone is equivalent to the loss of two weeks of GP and nurse appointments every year! MORE INFO ➕
Missed appointmentsPlease bear this in mind the next time you ring and can't get an appointment - it may be because someone didn't come to their appointment and forgot to cancel. If you could possibly be that person, please try and let us know that you cannot make it to your appointment, so that we may give your appointment to someone else. Patients who repeatedly fail to attend their appointments will be sent a letter, and may be removed from our panel.
How we manage late arrivals
We deal with late arrivals in a manner that helps to maintain our appointment schedules and ensure that all patients continue to receive an excellent level of service.
If you are slightly late
If you arrive with more than half the duration of your allocated appointment slot time left (for instance, you arrive 3 minutes late for a 10 minute appointment slot), your clinician will still see you, however, you will have to wait until your clinician is next free, as they will be busy with their next patient.
If you are very late
If you arrive with less than half the duration of your allocated appointment slot time left (for instance, you arrive 20 minutes late for a 30 minute minor operation slot), you will need to rebook. In exceptional circumstances only, and entirely at the discretion of the clinician, the clinician may still see you, however you may have to wait till the end of the session, so as not to disadvantage other patients who will have arrived on time.
Out of hours / When we are closed SHORTCUT ivy.gs/ooh
Out of hours medical services for the local population are provided by Derbyshire Health United ⧉
To access out of hours services
Ring 111 Or use other options below
In an acute medical emergency
999 for life-threatening conditions ⧉ A&E for medical emergencies ⧉ Mental health crisis ⧉
For same-day care
Urgent treatment centre ⧉ Ring 111 Ring Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline 0800 028 0077
To check if you need to see someone
Use 111 ⧉ NHS 111 online triage ⧉ Patient.info symptom checker ⧉ Ivy Grove symptom checker ⧉ Symptoms of serious illness ⧉ Is my child poorly? leaflet
For trusted medical advice
NHS A-Z of conditions ⧉ Patient.info health topics ⧉
To refer yourself to someone
Self-refer to the right person ⧉ Get the right help leaflet Find a phone number you need ⧉ Help page - what each worker does ⧉
To try self-care
Find out about and try self-care ⧉ Get support for your mental health ⧉ Ivy Grove minor illness leaflets ⧉ Self-help mental health leaflets ⧉ Self-care Forum factsheets ⧉
© Dr Michael Wong 2022