Ivy Grove Surgery : Appointments

SHORTCUT ivy.gs/appointments Appointments

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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Key links CHRISTMAS OPENING

Opening hours
Ring on 01773 514130
Options if we're full
Acute care clinics
Routine appointments

Telephone appointments
Tel. appts. poster
Online booking info
Online consult request

Hub appointments
Missed / late appts.
Out of hours ring 111
Options when closed

Get the right kind of help The links below take you away from this page

General Practice is evolving, seeing the right person is important

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

We operate in line with the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy towards violence and abuse. READ MORE

The practice has the right to remove violent or abusive patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patient and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety.

If necessary we will exercise our right to take action and have the offending patient removed immediately from the premises, by the police if necessary. In addition we will notify the patient in writing of their immediate removal from our list and make an entry in the patient’s medical records regarding the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

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 Monday and Tuesday mornings from 7.00am and on Wednesday evenings until 7.30pm. There are limited numbers of these appointments and they 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.There are limited numbers of these appointments and they 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 READ MORE

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 READ MORE

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 READ MORE

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 READ MORE

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

Like all other GP surgeries, we are not an unlimited service. At a time of unprecedented pressure and workload, and with a shrinking workforce, we must follow BMA recognised guidance on maintaining safe working practices so that we do not put the safety of our patients or the welfare of our staff at risk.

Please note that recent contract changes imposed upon GPs do not, contrary to popular belief, automatically entitle a patient to an appointment at first point of contact with the surgery. The information provided below forms part of the processes by which Ivy Grove Surgery fulfils its contractual obligations to ensure that an appropriate response is sent to any patient that makes contact with us.

You may be referred to this section of the website as part of our processes, but you are also free to use any of the information provided below at any time.

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.

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. READ MORE

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

For the foreseeable future, this clinic is run by telephone first. The doctor ringing you will decide if a subsequent face-to-face appointment is required.

However, certain conditions require a face-to-face appointment as they cannot be dealt with satisfactorily on the telephone. If you have one of these conditions, our receptionists will have the discretion to book you into a face-to-face slot on the day accordingly, without the need to speak to a GP first.

Suited to telephone first
Long-term disease reviews, e.g,, thyroid, asthma (with questionnaire response)
Skin rashes (with photo)
Most mental health problems
Most minor illness, e.g. sore throat (with photo), coughs, colds, skin infections, urine infections
Home blood pressure assessment (with home machine)
General advice
Medication reviews and queries
Reviewing results
Administrative queries and forms
Fit (sick) notes
Conditions (even complex ones) amenable to detailed assessment and initial investigation prior
Signposting and onward referrals

Suited to face-to-face
Abdominal pain
New lumps, e.g., breast
Dizziness
Ear pain/discharge
Nursing procedures: dressings, injections

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 clinic

Routine 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

If you need medical help, please ring us during working hours, call 111 , use the NHS 111 online service or visit NHS Health A-Z . If we have reached capacity for the day, any further assessments will be on the basis of clinical need and urgency only.

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 appointment booking

A certain number of our appointments are available to book online, for instance, smears and asthma checks, and flu appointments during the season. If you are eligible to book into such appointments, you will receive a text with a booking link. Please follow the directons to book.

We will be opening up more slots with other clinicians for online appointment booking.

Online consultations

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.

We use the accuRx patient triage system to allow patients to make an online request and book a limited number of online consultation slots. To make a new request, please visit our online consultations page for information.

Please note: contrary to the ignorant and mistaken belief of NHS England and politicians, online consultations are most definitely not the magic solution to improve access to a GP* , however we will do our best to help you if you use this method to reach us.

*The solutions to improve access to GPs are actually more GPs, investment in General Practice, better public health, increased population resilience, readiness for self-care, tackling the social determinants of health, investing in social care, etc, etc, but obviously that is all a bit too hard to do. It's far easier to make promises that someone else has to keep. Read more here and here .

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! READ MORE

Missed appointments

Please 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 arrive more than 5 minutes late for your appointment, we will ask you to rebook your appointment. 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