Our Appointment System

Before booking an appointment please check who is best placed to deal with your condition:

We have a new triage system in place. The purpose of this system is to ensure all patients get seen when they need to be seen and by the right clinician. By ensuring that a doctor triages your request and by collaborating with community services, it means patients will have access to variety of services who can help manage and treat their concern and it increases the amount of appointments we have available for patients who need to be seen by the doctor. We know that this is a change from how you have traditionally booked appointments but if you read on, you can find out how the new system works.

book appointment with GP

Access our new online consultation service open from 8am Monday to Friday. Closing times vary dependent on capacity.

Call 111 when it's a concern, but less urgent than 999.

The NHS non-emergency number.

111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It's fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

How To Book

Nurse and Healthcare Assistants

You can phone on 0161 983 5850 and Press option 1 for appointments, and then 2 for Nurse and Healthcare Assistant appointments. You will be put through on the phone to our reception team who can assist with your booking.

GP Appointments

We ask that patients complete a form for any request for a GP appointment, urgent or routine. You can access this form here, or, if you want the form text to your mobile, call 0161 983 5850 and follow the instructions for a GP appointment. The phone system will ask you to Press ‘1’ for a GP appointment, and then press ‘1’ if you are calling from a mobile or ‘2’ if you are calling from a landline. If you need to speak to reception about requesting an appointment, or about the outcome of a triage, you can speak to reception by pressing ‘3’ in this menu. If you press ‘1’ (calling from a mobile’) the phone system will read a message to you, explaining that you will now receive a text to your mobile with a link to the form. The phone system will then end the call, and you will receive the text message. Our reception staff will complete the form on behalf of anyone who does not have a mobile or internet, or perhaps might find the forms a little tricky to complete. Reception will encourage all patients to complete their own forms where possible, so that you can tell the doctor in your own words what you concern is.

All these forms will be triaged on the same day by a doctor because a doctor is the best person to assess your concern and know who is best to manage it. When the doctor receives your form they will then decide from a clinical perspective how urgent your issue is and which clinician you need to be seen by. If the doctor feels you need to be seen today, reception will contact you to book you in for an appointment on the same day. Otherwise the doctor may decide that your issue can wait a little longer. In these cases, you will receive a text message with a link to our available appointments, and you will be able to book the most convenient appointment for you to attend. If you do not have a mobile, the reception team will call you to book the appointment.

We welcome any feedback, especially if you found that the system did not work as described or encountered any issues accessing your GP practice. Any concerns can be emailed to us via our secure online form, or alternatively, you can call and speak to reception on 0161 983 5850. These changes are made because we want to use as many resources as we can to deal with the national demand on primary care and to ensure we have as much capacity to see our patients. Your wellbeing is the engine driving change in our practice and so we hope that after a period of adjustment you find that this system enables more access to the doctor when you need to see a doctor.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Alternatively, please use our online consultation service or contact Reception on 0161 983 5850 for non-urgent queries. We are taking bookings for telephone, face to face and video appointments.

Signposting

Bramhall Health Centre has implemented a signposting service, which is operated by our trained staff. We have provided training for our staff to ask appropriate questions in relation to your call in order to allocate you to the most suitable clinician or alternative service.

Reception staff are working under GP instructions and are bound by the same code of confidentially as the clinical staff.

For example, if you have an eye problem you may be signposted to the optician, if you have a mouth problem you may be signposted to the dentist.

Appointment Information

There is a menu of appointments available. Most appointments are between 8:30am and 5:50pm on weekdays (except bank holidays). We also have evening appointments available as extra extended hours appointments. In addition, we offer some Saturday morning appointments (8am-1pm) as extra extended hours appointments. These are arranged on a monthly basis and details can be obtained from Reception.

If the doctor who triages your form decides you need an appointment with the doctor specifically, where possible we will offer an appointment with your preferred doctor. You can highlight on your form if there is a doctor you wish to see in particular. Please note that sometimes availability will be with other doctors if your preferred doctor is unavailable or fully booked

In an emergency all patients will be seen by the duty doctor the same day. This clinic is meant for new and acute conditions. All requests for an emergency appointment will be triaged by the Duty GP. The GP will decide best action for that condition, for example, a face to face appointment. Please note that the duty doctor clinic appointments are shorter than routine appointments in order to deal with additional capacity on the day. Please refrain from discussing additional non-emergency conditions as this may delay other patients. We have a daily emergency appointments dedicated for children under the age of 12 (Monday to Friday mornings except Bank Holidays).

We would appreciate if you would consider the needs of all our patients. We have an obligation to balance the individual requirements of a patient during appointments with other patients waiting to be seen in the same surgery. There will be times when unforeseen medical emergencies may delay your appointment time (for example if the doctor is called out on an urgent home visit, is presented with a serious medical condition which requires more time to assess and arrange medical admission to hospital). If a patient presents with more than one medical condition, the doctor has the right to ask the patient to make a further appointment if the doctor is running late (due to previous medical emergencies) or if the doctor feels there is not sufficient time to deal with all additional queries. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience.

Missed Appointments

Unfortunately there are a growing number of appointments that patients do not attend. This significantly affects the ability of other patients to book appointments more quickly with a GP of their choice. Please telephone as soon as possible if, for any reason, you no longer require an appointment or are unable to make your appointment. Alternatively if you have signed up to the online service you are able to cancel your appointment at any time online. Lastly, we are piloting the ability for patients to cancel their appointment by sending an email giving as much notice as possible via our secure online form. Please note this email should not be used for clinical matters or urgent queries.

Lateness Policy

We understand that sometimes circumstances can make patients late for their appointments. We therefore operate the following system.

If a patient is up to 10 minutes late, the Doctor/Nurse will see them. If a patient is more than 10 minutes late, the Receptionist will contact the clinician to inform them that the patient has arrived. They may or may not be seen, this decision will be made by the clinician. If the clinician is able to facilitate the appointment, this may be at a more convenient time e.g. end of surgery.

Patients have the option to re-book their appointment for a more convenient time if they are unable to wait.

Thank you for your understanding.

Doctors In Training And Medical Students.

Bramhall Health Centre is a teaching practice. We have qualified doctors in GP training. We also have students from Manchester University and other medical schools with us for short periods.

Viaduct Care 7 Day Access Services

Viaduct Care offers a 7 Day Access Service to patients with pre-bookable appointments available with GPs, Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistants in the evenings from 6:30pm until 8:00pm and at weekends between 8am and 1pm.

Evening and weekends appointments can be booked by contacting us and raising a medical request, stating you wish to be seen in the 7 day access service. You can do this by contacting us on 0161 983 5850 or by using our online consultation service

Functional Cookies

3rd Party Cookies