All consultations at the surgery are by appointment. Appointments are for 15 minutes each and for one patient only. We will always try and offer you an appointment with the most appropriate clinician in the most appropriate timescale. Provision is made each day for genuinely urgent appointments.
Managing an appointment book for our 7000 patients can be a complicated and onerous task. With an ever changing picture of demand and around 150-200 appointments to complete each day, we won’t always get things perfect! That said, rest assured that we constantly monitor and optimise our appointments, always ensuring our care is safe and serving our local community as best as possible.
The NHS has recognised that demand on the GP system is consistently high and policy is for receptionists to care navigate and signpost patients to the best possible pathway of care.
Our core philosophy is to offer pre-bookable (up to 7+ days ahead) and on the day appointments for GPs. This is to manage the demand of patients with chronic and acute problems balanced against routine and those that feel it is urgent. The system is set up to release appointments each morning so we can spread the demand through the course of the day.
We have some appointments outside of core hours on certain days of the week and also weekends. They are run in conjunction with other Stroud Practices enabling our patients to travel across the Stroud patch for available appointments.
Our GPs have a variety of appointments for routine and urgent consultations, in addition to home visits. Our Advanced Nurse Practitioner provides advanced patient care similar to a GP by assessing, diagnosing, and treating acute and chronic illnesses, ordering investigations, prescribing medication, and managing complex conditions.
The nurses offer specialist appointments for chronic disease management such as diabetes and asthma/COPD on top of the plethora of other patient care processes.
Please note appointments for blood tests need to be before 3:30pm daily.
Although you may be registered with one doctor, for urgent appointments you will be offered an appointment with whichever doctor is available.
Home visits
Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you need a home visit, this can be requested by calling reception before 10:30am.
Please note – Home visits are only available if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls
You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.
If you need help with your appointment
Please tell us:
- if you need an interpreter
- if you have any other access or communication needs
Stroud Enhanced Access
Our surgery is participating in the Stroud Cotswold PCN enhanced access scheme, a project aimed at improving patient access to primary care services. The GP surgeries involved in this scheme are Frithwood Surgery, Beeches Green Surgery, Painswick Surgery, Rowcroft Medical Centre and Minchinhampton Surgery.
Extra GP clinics will be held during normal hours, and additional appointments will be available on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings. All appointments will be booked by either our reception staff or GPs.
Let us know!
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our appointment system, please feel free to email us using frithwood.enquiries@nhs.net