Moordown Medical Centre

The demand for appointments for the doctor has increased significantly over the last 5 years and so has complexity of patient problems so we have adopted a different way that we work to help you access timely care from the most appropriate health care professional.

Appointments

Our appointment system works as follows:

Your initial contact with the surgery will be with a receptionist who will ask you for your name, date of birth and brief description of your problem.   They will book you a telephone call with the GP if you are requesting an appointment on the same day.

If you wish to talk to a specific doctor let the receptionist know.  Wherever possible they will arrange this but this cannot be guaranteed.

The GP will aim to call you back within 1 hour and discuss your problem.  The doctors will establish whether you need to be seen and if clinically appropriate will book your appointment directly for that day with the appropriate clinician.  They may not necessarily be a doctor.   This also means they are much more likely to run to time.

The most important thing to know is that this is not a way of stopping you seeing the doctor, it is to give you quicker access to the doctor’s knowledge and to work in a more efficient way. Practices all around the country have started working like this to cope with demand.  This means that the doctors have more time, if needed, to deal with more complex problems. 

If you usually come to the surgery to book an appointment for the same day you will still be booked a telephone appointment with a GP for that day.

 Please be aware that this system does not affect the facility to pre-book appointments in advance although you may experience a longer wait to pre-book with the GP of your choice.  You will also still be able to pre- book on-line.

Nurses and HCA appointments will continue to be booked by practice receptionists either in person or by phoning in.

Online Appointment Service

At Moordown Medical Centre you can book your appointment over the internet. To register for this free service simply contact the surgery by telephone on 01202 974700 and ask to register for online services. Once registered you can use our 24 hr internet service by clicking on the link within this website.

How To Make An Appointment with a Doctor  or Practice Nurse 

Call 01202 974700 (08:00 - 18:00)
(NB: The Surgery is closed from 12:00 - 14:00 on the first Wednesday of the month) 

We offer a variety of appointments.

Please bear in mind that the volume of calls are highest between 08:00 and 08:30 so unless it is an emergency, or you would like to see a specific doctor we would advise you to ring a little later.

You can see any of our doctors as they each have access to all records and all doctors have appointments which you can pre-book in advance.

Moordown Medical Centre reserves the right to stop a patient prebooking appointments should they repeatedly fail to turn up for a appointment.

It is possible to book an appointment using the internet.  If you are already registered please follow link BOOK APPOINTMENT

If you would like to register for this service, please ask reception for some help. 

Advice & Information

If you wish to speak to a doctor there is a routine telephone advice slot available for them to phone you. These can be booked in advance and the Doctor will phone you at any time throughout the day. Please be aware that as Doctors are extremely busy, we can only take one contact number and the Doctor will only try once to phone you. If you miss the call the doctor will not try again and you will have to arrange for another day. 

Home Visits

These are predominantly for the elderly housebound or people who are too ill to attend the surgery.

If a visit were necessary, it would greatly assist the doctor to make the request before 11:00. However, should you feel better following your request for a doctor to visit, please telephone the surgery and cancel this asap please note:

Home Visits are not for people who do not have transport.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Medical Centre.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

Your employer can ask you to confirm that you've been ill.You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification.

If you're sick and off work for more than seven days, your employer will probably ask for proof of your illness. Most employers ask for a fit note from your GP.

However, this will also depend on your employer's company policy on sick leave (or sickness absence). This policy should tell you how many days you can be off sick before you need to provide proof of illness or a fit note.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Sickness Certificates

Improved Access

We are working to improve access to appointments for our patients, in particular at evenings and weekends. These appointments may be at a different site e.g.  the Urgent Treatment Centre at Bournemouth Hospital.”