Neston Surgery Information for Patients

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Emergencies

If you have an emergency that requires immediate attention- tell the receptionist straight away.

Appointments

From February 2002, Neston Surgery has employed a system of same day surgeries. This is to allow the Surgery to attain the requirement of offering appointments within 48 hours as set by the government. These can be used for urgent or routine matters. Appointments will be offered through the day. However, please remember that appointments can be booked in advance to see our Practice Nurses who can review some routine matters ( blood pressure checks, Asthma, Diabetes, HRT, Contraception, for example). Your doctor will be able to advise you when it is possible to have you reviews performed by the nurse. Appointments can also be offered for cervical smears with our nurses. Our earliest surgeries commence at 830am and end at 6pm.

Home Visits

On average, seeing you at home takes three times as long as seeing you in surgery. Please try and help us by keeping home visits down to a minimum by coming to the surgery whenever possible. It is also possible to do many tests at the surgery which cannot easily be done at home. If a home visit is required please telephone before 10:00 am, so that we can arrange to see you in good time. The receptionist will ask for a few details to enable the doctor to assess the urgency of your call. In the future, you may also speak to one of our practice nurses who will be assessing the calls for visits and requests for urgent appointments- this is called Nurse Triage and is being introduced by many surgeries.

Out of Hours calls

We provide out of hours cover for emergencies that happen when the surgery is closed. This cover is part of the "Wirral Doctors Out of Hours Scheme" which is located at the Out of Hours centre at Arrowe Park Hospital. On contacting the centre you may be asked to either attend the centre or be put in touch with a doctor if advice is all that is needed. If it is medically needed a home visit will be arranged. The doctors working at the Out of Hours centre are mostly GPs from the Wirral (including some of the doctors from this surgery).

Newly Registered Patients

All newly registerd patients will be asked to complete a questionnaire and to have a check up with the practice nurse within one month of registering with us. This helps to give us some background about you which will help us in looking after you. You are able to attend the doctor as soon as you have registered.

Patients aged 75 & over

If you are75 and over, you should be seen by a member of the practice team for an annual check up. This can be done with the nurse, health visitor or doctor. If you are able to attend the surgery, then please make an appointment to see the nurse or doctor. If you cannot come to the surgery, then a home visit can be arranged.

Disabled Access

All our consulting rooms and treatment facilities are at ground level. There is ample car parking for disabled drivers and entrance ramps to the building to make access easier.

Complaints

We always try to give you the best services possible, but there may be times when you feel that this has not happened. This section explains what to do if you have a complaint about the services we provide you.

We hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, put right any problems you have identified or mistakes that have been made.

If you use this procedure, it will not affect your right to complain to the Ellesmere Port & Neston Primary Care Trust.

Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and the patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by that patient in person.

If you wish to make a complaint, please phone or write to our practice manager. He will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation.

We think it is important to deal with complaints swiftly so you will normally be offered an appointment for a meeting to discuss matters within seven days. Occasionally, if we have to make a lot of enquiries, it might take a little longer, but we will keep you informed. You may bring a friend or relative with you to the meeting.

We will try to address your concerns fully, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be needed. We hope that, at the end of the meeting, you will feel satisfied that we have dealt with the matter thoroughly. However, if this is not possible and you continue with your complaint, we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you.

Confidentiality

All doctors and staff at the surgery are bound by strict rules of confidentiality. Your medical records on paper and computer are accessed by surgery personnel to record treatments, record and give out results of tests, prepare prescriptions, make appointments and send out recalls.

Data Protection Act 1998

You have the right to view your records and if you wish to do so please make an appointment with the practice manager.