Appointments SHORTCUT ivy.gs/appointments
Key messages
Key links
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 the out of hours service .
Important info
We are not a walk-in / turn-up / emergency service. Please book first to see us SHOW
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 SHOW
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 SHOW
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 SHOW
Our symptom checker and help pages are provided to help you get the most appropriate help as quickly as possible. It is a guide showing you who you can turn to first, or where you can first go for help.
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.
- 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. 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/symptoms and ivy.gs/help
- 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
information
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
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
You will be given a time around which the doctor will ring you when the doctor gets to that point in their surgery. If following the call, the doctor decides you do need to be seen, you will be booked a face to face appointment as appropriate. The doctor will try to ring you twice. If we are not able to get through to you, please rebook your telephone appointment.
IF YOU MIGHT NEED TO BE SEEN FACE-TO-FACE
If you think there is a chance you may need to be seen face-to-face, please do not book a telephone appointment
Hub appointments
Extra appointments are available every weekday evening and weekend mornings including all bank holidays.
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! SHOW
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.
If you are more than ten minutes late for your appointment, you will only be seen at the discretion of the doctor or nurse and you may have to wait until the end of surgery.
appointments
Out of Hours
In an emergency, when the surgery is closed, please ring 111. When you ring you will be directly connected to Derbyshire Health United who provides out of hours medical services for the local population.
If you need medical help out of hours, you may also attend an Urgent Treatment Centre.
For a full list of services that you can self-refer to, without the need to speak to or see a GP first, including for medical emergencies, please see our self-referral index.
Get help for your problem
July update NEW! | Mental health support Medicines Order Line (MOL)
© Dr Michael Wong 2022