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Appointment Booking Changes
Posted or Updated on 21 Mar 2025
Dear Patients,
We have listened to your feedback regarding the difficulties you have experienced with our current appointment system. From the 7th of April we will be making this equitable for all.
Our appointment book will be changed to be more flexible to accommodate the rising demands and health complexities of our patients. To enable us to be more reactive to changing demands and meet the needs of our patients, routine GP appointments will no longer be released daily at 12 noon and we will no longer refer to appointments as being urgent or routine.
When you contact us a member of the team (Care Navigators) will ask you a series of questions which have been approved by our clinical team. We will need you to answer these questions openly and honestly because your answers will enable our team to direct you efficiently to the most appropriate healthcare professional or service to best suit your needs.
It is likely that we will continue to have many patients contact us first thing in the morning when we open at 8am. If you do not think you need us that day and if you feel you can wait, please call us throughout the day. By doing this you will help to remove the 8am rush.
We will also be stopping our Monday afternoon Sit and Wait clinic as our new system aims to ensure our patients get the right appointment with the right person first time.
To enable the new process to work, you will no longer be able to book GP appointments beyond the 7th April. This will not affect your care because we will increase our capacity in these preceding weeks to accommodate demand. This is an important step in the process to ensure that we begin with a clear appointment book, ensuring GP availability for you moving forward.
We will still be open from 8am until 6.30pm. Please continue to be mindful of how busy we are at 8am and use the remainder of the day to make contact with us, for example to book blood tests, long term condition reviews, routine appointments, vaccinations, nursing appointments or if you have any other administrative enquires.
We will monitor this new system and, if needed, make changes based on your feedback.
We look forward to your support as we make these changes.
The Partners and Staff at Brook Lane Surgery.