Appointments at Avenue Villa
Self-Assessment
Do you really need a doctor’s appointment?
If you have a medical problem which is new, then the first thing to do is consider self-care and self-help. There is plenty of advice available on this website and on the NHS website.
If you feel that home treatment is not working, then you should consider making an appointment with your doctor. However, if you are dealing with a minor condition, such as a cold or a mild headache, you should consider visiting your local pharmacy first.
NHS 111 provides a simple online symptom checker – this can be used in the first instance to see if you can take steps to help yourself at home.
Who To Turn To
Booking an appointment
Routine Appointments
Routine appointments are available in advance with the practice nurses, nurse practitioners and registrar doctors. These can be made by calling the surgery
Urgent Appointments
Patients wishing an appointment for a pressing ailment should call the practice at 8.30 onwards. When your call is taken you will be offered an appointment or a call back from a doctor who will assess your symptoms and take appropriate action.
Emergency appointments are by their nature allocated at short notice. It is therefore unlikely that you will be able to see the doctor of your choice, although we will endeavour to protect continuity of care as far as possible.
Routine Enquiries
The telephone lines are open between 8.30am and 6.00pm for all enquiries. The lines are very busy between 08.30am and 9.30am when emergency appointments are being made. We advise that you avoid calling with routine enquiries during these times.
In life-threatening Emergencies such as severe bleeding, collapse, unconsciousness and severe chest pains telephone 999 immediately.
eConsult
eConsult is an online questionnaire on our website that provides self-help advice and/or submits an electronic form to the GP Practice which means avoiding contacting via telephone or in person. The eConsult is allocated appropriately within the Practice and the patient is provided with a response via text and/or email to inform them of when they will receive a response from a clinician if necessary.
If an appointment is required the patient will be informed via text and/or email.
Administration queries can also be dealt with such as sick paper requests and test results.
When you contact our trained call handlers at Avenue Villa Surgery you will be triaged to establish the most appropriate course of action for your need. The options are:
Booking an appointment
You may be offered a same day, face-to-face appointment if required.
Please be understanding that although we fully appreciate that you may feel your situation is urgent, our highly professional reception staff have been trained to triage and assess your situation to be able to navigate you to the most appropriate team-member in the most appropriate time-frame
Phone consultation
There are a limited number of telephone consultations with a doctor are available upon request these can be pre-booked and are available on a Monday and Friday Morning.
We strive to ensure you communicate with the most appropriate member of our Practice medical team, which includes doctors, nurse practitioners, practice pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists and mental health support workers.
If you cannot administer self-care, please contact the surgery to book an appointment.
Our appointment lines are open after 8:30am.
We endeavour to minimise patient waiting times to see a Clinician but there are occasions, especially if you are an extra to a surgery that you many encounter a longer than expected wait. We thank you for your patience as we try and help all our patients as best, we can.
Our online forms
Please navigate to the required form below.
Blood Pressure Reading
Add as many past readings as you are able. This will give the clinician a better idea of your blood pressure overtime. If the reading is dangerously high, you should repeat it immediately and if it remains above 180/110 urgently contact NHS Direct on 111, or the surgery. If the reading is dangerously low, you should repeat it immediately and if it remains below 80/50 urgently contact NHS Direct on 111, or the surgery.
Access Standards
A new set of standards were announced by the Minister for Health and Social Services that are aimed to raise and improve the level of service for patients in Wales from their GP practices.
These standards are set out below;
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Patients receive a prompt response to their contact with a GP practice via telephone.
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Practices have the appropriate telephony systems in place to support the needs of people avoiding the need to call back multiple times and will check that they are handling calls in this way.
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Patients receive bilingual information on local and emergency services when contacting a practice.
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Patients are able to access information on how to get help and advice.
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Patients receive the right care at the right time in a joined up way which is based on their needs.
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Patients can use a range of options to contact their GP practice.
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Patients are able to email a practice to request a non-urgent consultation or a call back.
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Practices understand the needs of people within their practice and use this information to anticipate the demand on its services.
If you have any questions about this, Please do not hesitate to ask at reception.
Download the NHS app
Access a range of patient support tools via your smartphone.
Download from Google Play or App Store now.
