Opening Times
The Surgery is open from Monday to Friday 08.00 till 18.30. We are closed between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesdays only.
Morning surgeries run from 08.10 to 11.10, afternoon surgeries from 13.30 till 18.00.
Emergencies are always seen the same day.
Bank Holidays
The practice will be closed on:
Good Friday - 21st March 2008
Easter Monday – 24th March 2008.
Monday 5th May 2008
Monday 26th May 2008 .
Please ensure you have enough medication to see you through these periods.
Out of Hours
Since April 1st 2004 GPs are only responsible for providing cover between 8.00 a.m. and 6.30 pm Monday to Friday.
Cover outside these times (i.e. evenings, nights and weekends) is the responsibility of Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT, and is provides by the N.E.W. service, should you phone us out of hours you will be forwarded to this service.
Should you need advice out of hours you can either contact the N.E.W. service or phone NHS Direct on 0845 4647
Once a month the surgery closes between 1pm and 5pm. This is a Primary Care Trust (PCT) initiative which most practices in Central Cheshire take advantage of. It allows the practice team to get together for training sessions and to think about how we can improve the service we offer you, the patients. During these closures, patients requiring urgent medical attention are asked to telephone 01270 273666. Dates of these training sessions can be found on the ‘News’ page.
Home visits
All our doctors carry out home visits where medically indicated. You can usually be seen quicker by attending the surgery. The doctor will also have access to diagnostic equipment in the surgery if needed. Home visits are reserved for the housebound.
If the doctor thinks it might be better for the patient to attend the surgery he or she might ring you back to assess the situation.
If you do feel you require a visit, ring 01606 836481 (select option 3).
Please ring before 11.00 a.m.
Telephone system
We have installed a new telephone system. This does mean that sometimes your call will be held in a queue, but should mean that you hear the engaged tone less often.
There are a number of touch tone short cuts to enable you to speak to the right person. If none of the options seems right just hold on and a receptionist will deal with your call. The options are:
Service Press number:
Notes
Emergency 1 This directs you to our dedicated emergency line which will be answered immediately. To keep this line free we are unable to deal with routine requests on it. If pressed by mistake you will be asked to redial. Appointments 2 To book an appointment. Visit request 3 To request a home visit Results 4 You can ring for test results after 2 p.m. Most blood test results are available after a few days, x-rays can take 2 weeks. Other 5 Your call will be answered by reception.
Doctors
Martin Clifton
Dr. Clifton is our Senior Partner. He has been with the practice for 23 years.
Debbie Ford
Dr. Ford is a trainer of future G.P.s. After a lot of hard work, the practice has been approved by the Mersey Deanery as being of a high standard. She also has an interest in HRT and supervises the weekly clinic. She works half-time.
John Crofts
Dr. Crofts is the diabetes lead for Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust. He also supervises the diabetic clinic and has an interest in cryotherapy.
Piers Longhorn
Dr. Longhorn has interests in respiratory medicine, information technology and palliative care. He works as a Clinical Assistant at St. Luke's Hospice on Thursday afternoon. He performs joint injections ("cortisone") for many common musculoskeletal problems such as tennis elbow and arthritis. He is currently the Cancer Lead GP for Central Cheshire.
Teri Johnson
Dr. Johnson has clinical expertise in family planning and sexual and reproductive health. She is a Family planning instructing doctor and runs our wart clinic.
GP Registrar–
We are proud to have achieved and retained training practice status. This allows Dr Ford, our GP Trainer, to mentor and teach GP Registrars. These are fully qualified doctors who have worked in hospitals for a number of years whilst deciding what aspect of medicine to specialise in. Having chosen General practice, these doctors come to work at the practice for a year before themselves becoming General Practitioners. The year they spend with us is invaluable work experience for them and also benefits us by stimulating new ideas within the practice. Part of a registrars year may be spent studying for the MRCGP exam which bestows on them Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners. This involves video taping consultations with patients in order to improve consultation skills. This would only be done with patients consent and during video taping sessions, our receptionists will give you a consent form. Please read the form carefully before completing it as it contains a section where you are able to decline the invitation to be filmed.
We currently provide: Family Planning Clinics HRT Clinics Maternity Services Asthma Clinics Minor Surgery (please see a doctor first to check your problem is suitable for our service) Smoking Cessation Child Health Surveillance Childhood Immunisations Travel Vaccinations Due to more pressing demands on clinicians' time, we are only able to offer a limited number of travel clinics. Advice can be obtained from http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk. Vaccinations are available at British Airways travel clinics – the closest is located at Manchester Airport.
HGV and other medical examinations (these are private services for which a fee is payable)
Minor Ailments Scheme.
This is a fairly new scheme that has been introduced by the PCT (Primary Care Trust) which is in operation at Pharmacies. It allows patients improved access to treatment for minor ailments. At the moment there are six conditions covered by the scheme, but more conditions may be added to the list as the scheme progresses. The conditions currently covered are:
Earache & Temperature
Hay Fever
Head Lice
Vaginal Thrush
Sore Throat
Conjunctivitis (Red Eye)There are leaflets available in the waiting room and at your local Pharmacy explaining more about the scheme. All consultations are free of charge and are treated in strict confidence, just as they are by your GP and Nurse. If you are exempt from prescription payments you will still receive your medicines as before and if you are not, normal rules apply.
The benefits for you are direct access with a health professional, normally within a few minutes, which avoids waiting for a GP appointment.
It also has benefit for the GP practice, by freeing up minor ailment appointments; the practice then has more appointments to deal with more medically urgent cases.
Non-NHS paperwork.
It is important to understand that the completion by doctors of forms/reports is NOT core NHS work i.e. it is PRIVATE work undertaken by your GP's in their own time and not their usual surgery NHS time. Please try to be patient - NHS work does and must always take priority over private work.
Forms or reports such as Private medical insurance claims, holiday cancellations, sickness or accident reports etc. These forms should be brought or sent to the surgery. It will then be given to your doctor for completion. There will be a charge for this, payable on collection of the completed form.
Insurance forms. These are reports compiled from your medical records for purposes such as life assurance, mortgages etc. These forms may appear to take some time to complete, as it is not uncommon for it to take up to one month between you signing the consent form/request for information and the surgery receiving the documentation. Further delays can occur if a doctor is on holiday. Please be patient.