For any life-threatening illness or time critical emergency call 999.
Minor conditions
There is a range of online or telephone advice available via https://111.nhs.uk/ to see if there is a self help solution prior to contacting the surgery.
Minor illnesses
The following conditions have been commissioned by NHS England to be provided by our local community pharmacy consultation service, who have been funded and trained to manage (and if appropriate prescribe) the following 7 conditions. Please contact them directly via your local pharmacy.
- Sinusitis
- Sore throat
- Earache
- Infected insect bite
- Impetigo (a bacterial skin infection)
- Shingles
- Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
Minor injuries
If you have had a minor injury the minor injuries unit (MIU) at Paulton will be most appropriate, opening times 8am – 7pm 7 days a week, no need to make an appointment, they have been commissioned to deliver this service to patients. The MIU will also have access to some XR facilities. This would include cuts, grazes, stings and any potential minor bony injuries.
If you have sustained a major injury then 999 will be more appropriate.
Eye problems
All BANES patients of any age can directly access urgent eyecare without any GP referral, free of charge and close to home by calling 0300 303 4922, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm via the “CUES” service. (Community Urgent Eye Service)
CUES is available to patients presenting with a recent onset urgent eye problem such as a painful eye, foreign body, sudden change in vision, or sudden onset of flashes and floaters which may suggest retinal detachment.
Patients with non-urgent or longstanding symptoms are not eligible for CUES.
Many other self referrals
Please follow link to our self referrals page for details about how to access services without a GP referral for:
- Mental health
- Physiotherapy
- Exercise scheme
- Smoking cessation
- Maternity service
- Podiatry
- Carers support
- Drugs and alcohol support
Clinical appointments
If you have a more serious clinical concern which does not warrant a 999 call, your call will initially be triaged via our Total digital triage system, which is our online system for all enquiries.
If you are unable to process the online referral yourself, a friend or relative can do this on your behalf. If that is not available to you then you can phone the surgery and our reception team care navigators will complete the online form on your behalf. If you turn up at the surgery the reception team can similarly process your request but all will be added to the same triaging queue.
Please tell us as much useful information as possible to help us triage you appropriately, including your preference for face to face or telephone contact.
All clinical requests are being constantly screened by a senior clinician and triaged. According to your needs you will be contacted for a face to face or telephone appointment either on the same day; within a week or within 4 weeks according to clinical urgency. (sadly, we cannot triage appointments simply for convenience) If you feel we have incorrectly triaged your problem we encourage you to get back in touch with us.
If you feel that your request is very urgent but not requiring 999 response then it could be appropriate to contact the reception team to flag this up to us, ideally at the same time as submitting your online request.
We encourage you to let us know if there is a “usual clinician” that you have been seeing for the same problem. There is considerable evidence confirming that getting to know one clinician best improves outcomes and satisfaction.
You may be allocated to see or speak to a doctor, a nurse, a practice clinical pharmacist a physiotherapist or a physician associate according to who may be the most appropriate and timely to meet your needs.
We are trying very hard to match capacity to demand within a resource stretched NHS. There will however be times when we have reached capacity to safely deal with any further new appointments that day. In this case if your problem is not urgent you can simply wait until the online system opens again the following day. If your problem is urgent consider whether you may need to call 999. If not, you can call the surgery and discuss with one of our reception team care navigators.
Please be aware that nationally there is a significant shortfall of GPs and although we are all working very hard it is not always possible to meet everyone’s wants within our healthcare system. We aim to meet needs as much as possible.
It is up to all of us to reduce any unnecessary contacts and to use the limited resources that we have wisely. Therefore please consider carefully before contacting the surgery and use the self referral options above if appropriate.
Please do not take out any frustration regards this national shortfall problem on our hardworking reception / admin and clinical teams and understand that there is no place for aggressive behaviour towards our staff. Zero Tolerance
Admin queries
This would include sick note requests and appointment queries. For queries relating to admin, please use the online service Accurx and choose option “Admin Query”
If this is not available to you, then phone the surgery and speak to our reception / care navigator team.
Note that for booking routine nursing appointments e.g blood tests, cervical smears, immunisations etc we should send you a self-booking link with your invitation where appropriate. If this does not work for you, then please phone our reception team to arrange your appointment.