What it is?
Some of the practices in the West of the city are working together to make sure that you get the care and treatment you need from practices outside of normal surgery hours as well as during normal surgery hours. This service is known as the GP Extended Access Service and is available from 6.30pm – 8.30pm Monday – Friday and 9am – 5pm on a Saturday.
What GP Practices are involved?
This service involves the following 6 practices:
- Chester Surgery
- Hylton Medical Group
- Millfield Medical Centre
- Pallion Family Practice
- Forge Medical Practice
- Wearside Medical Practice
Who can access it?
If you are registered as a patient at any of the practices above you can access this service, at any of the practice sites. Each practice will be offering out of hours session during the week on a set day e.g., Millfield Medical Centre will be offering evening appointments every Wednesday. This means that if you need to be seen on a Wednesday evening and you are a patient at any of the practices on the list above you will be offered an appointment at Millfield Surgery.
What do they offer?
The following are examples of services which are available during the week:
- GP appointments
- Smear tests
- Reviews for long-term conditions, such as Diabetes and Asthma
- Blood tests
- ECG’s
- Blood Pressure check
During your appointment staff are able to check your GP practice records unless you have opted out of record-sharing.
Non-urgent advice: The GP Extended Access Service has been around for some time now, why it is changing at these practices?
This allows staff skills and experience to be shared. They also believe that patients should not have to travel far to access care and treatment, so this solution stops the need to travel to other parts of the city to access out of hours services.
How do I make an appointment?
You can only make these appointments by contacting your own GP practice. Each practice will follow their own methods to book (to try and make it as easy as possible) When you are booking an appointment either by telephone, at reception or via an eConsult, these appointments will be offered to you if suitable as part of the normal process.
Appointments with a GP are usually booked on the day you will be seen. Appointments with other healthcare professionals such as a Practice Nurse can be booked in advance.