Appointments are made by either telephoning the surgery and speaking to a receptionist or via our online booking service. To enable you to use the online service you must first go into the surgery to register for use of this facility. You will be given a “login” and “password”. The facility will then be available to you. Please note, it is not possible to book on-line appointments for the nurses as some appointments need to be longer than others, therefore you will need to contact a receptionist.

A selection of appointments can be pre-booked up to 4 weeks in advance. Some appointments can be booked 2 days in advance. The remainder are booked on the day. Demand is carefully monitored so please use the appointments system responsibly.

Routine appointments are 10 minutes.

Emergency appointments - these are available for urgent problems and can be arranged for the same day. You may not be able to see your usual doctor and the appointment may be shorter than a routine appointment.

Patients are reminded that only one problem should be discussed in your appointment.

Patients are advised that Woodland Medical Practice is pleased to announce that we are now providing training for Medical Students. Therefore upon occasion when students are with us patients will be asked if they are happy to have a student observing their appointment with the GP.

We would be grateful for patient support with this programme.

Patients are requested, where possible, to telephone before 10am if a home visit is required that day.

We would request that, apart from the genuinely housebound, all other patients attend the surgery rather than request a home visit because of the extra time home visiting takes. On average four to five patients can be seen in surgery in the time it takes to do a single house call. In addition, the care that can be offered due to the lack of adequate lighting, examination facilities and equipment means that you may not receive as good a service as the doctor may be able to offer if you came to the surgery.

Please note that the doctor may telephone you rather than visit you if this is medically appropriate. Ultimately it is the doctors right to decide whether or not a visit is appropriate for a particular set of circumstances.

The practice offers a telephone consultation service. If you would prefer to speak to a GP rather than attending the surgery please ask the receptionist for a telephone consultation. 

Telephone consultations are held daily during morning and afternoon surgery. The receptionist will take your details and ask a GP to telephone you. 

Telephone consultations are not appropriate for nurse appointments. If you wish to speak to a nurse please inform reception who will ensure all the relevant details are passed to the nurse who will phone you back.

It is important that you inform the reception staff if you are unable to attend your appointment, this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient. 

In our efforts to cut down on our DNA rate, the practice manager now writes a warning letter to each patient who does not attend for their appointments.

Sign up to our free text reminder service to avoid being removed from the Practice for not cancelling or keeping your appointment.

You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can also text to cancel your appointment.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

Please attend your appointment on time, if you are late you may not be seen. If you are not seen you will not be able to rearrange your appointment until the next working day-except in the event of an medical emergency that requires immediate attention.

If you require an interpreter to attend with you when you see your Doctor please notify the receptionist and she will arrange this for you.

One evening per week we offer appointments up to 20:00 please contact reception for details. These are by appointment only. Whenever possible please use these extended appointments if you cannot get during the day.

Also note that there will be no telephone service during extended appointments. Calls to the practice after 18:30 will automatically be picked up by the Out of Hours service.

ERS is one of the first initiatives by the NHS to allow patients to be more involved in taking decisions and making choices about their healthcare. If a doctor refers you for secondary care, you will be informed of your choice of hospital/ healthcare provider. 

ERS will enable patients to choose a convenient place, date and time for their initial hospital appointment. Patients will be able to choose from one to four hospitals (or other healthcare providing facilities) commissioned by their PCT. 

Information on these hospitals will be provided to GP staff and patients at www.nhs.uk to enable them to choose.