21/07/2025
Dear patients,
Thank you to those of you engaging with the triage system.
We are using the triage service to decide who needs to see a doctor including same day/urgent requests. Please can we remind everyone we are NOT a walk-in emergency service/A&E dept.
We have had several people attending in person with no booked appointment and demanding they are to be seen immediately as they are “unwell” - and this covers all matters of things, including some very trivial things or inappropriate dental queries.
When a triage form is submitted this allows the GP to quickly ascertain appropriateness/urgency. Some submissions are triaged within minutes of being sent to decide who needs to be seen that/next day and those that can wait longer or those that need to go to a minor injury or ED dept.
We, the partners, have asked ALL our receptionists to either advise triage submission there and then OR if needed they can assist patients with completion.
However, we cannot, and will not, guarantee a doctor quickly abandoning all other patients/duties immediately - UNLESS there is an immediate severe threat to life/limb – which should not be the case as we are NOT an emergency service.
If you are very unwell and feel it needs to be seen within the hour, you should NOT attend the practice - and instead head direct to an Emergency Department please. We are not a walk in service and have a very high number of appointment requests every day, with hundreds of requests for appts every single week.
We still maintain that this ensures that the right patients are seen and to finally remind all that any threats to staff will not be tolerated and may form grounds for removal from the practice list.
Thank you
Dr French, Dr Mugford & Dr Dennison.
