When you’re feeling unwell, you want to get advice and help quickly. 

Our practice receptionists have had additional training in ‘care navigation’ so they can help you get the right care, faster.

When you call the practice to make an appointment, the receptionist/patient services team may ask you to tell them a bit about why you want to see someone.  You don’t need to give lots of detail or tell them anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Our reception team/patient services team will never offer clinical advice or triage; this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see the most appropriate professional in the practice team or elsewhere. It will often be quicker and means you may not need to see a GP at all.

By working this way, it helps to free up time for our GPs to care for patients with Complex or serious health conditions that can only be managed by a GP. More importantly though, it means people are seen first by the clinician best able to manage their clinical problem.

"Please don't be offended if you are asked what the problem is when you ring for an appointment. "This is called Care Navigation and it's about helping you get the service you need."

The receptionist/patient services team might suggest you see an alternative professional or service:

• Pharmacy

• Physiotherapy

• Healthy Minds

• Lifestyle Health & Wellbeing

• Social prescribers

• Prescribing Pharmacists

The choice is always yours though, we hope next time you contact your GP and speak to our reception team/Patient services team you will see the value of seeing another health professional if they are able to help.