Make An Appointment

You can make an appointment to see your doctor by telephoning our reception on 01634 843351, or book online using the NHS App.

Please be patient when contacting reception it can be very busy at times. If you have other enquiries that are not relating to booking an appointment please wait until after 9.30am to contact reception.

The receptionist will ask you for a brief description of your problem, this is to help signpost you to the most appropriate health professional and the most appropriate time. All information is treated with the strictest confidentiality. You can ask to speak to the receptionist away from reception in a more private area. However if you feel the issue is really private and you do not wish to discuss then this will be respected.

You have the right to express a preference from a particular practitioner. if you do express a preference you will be given an appointment at their next available clinic. This may not be possible in the case of urgent appointment requests.

Appointments are allocated 10 minute slots, if you have multiple problems please notify reception as you may need a longer appointment.

Our online routine appointments are bookable 4 weeks in advance. New appointments open at 7am online.

Please note: If you simply have a form that needs to be completed by a GP or are requesting a private letter please inform reception, you may not need to book an appointment. Please note: This is a non NHS service that incurs a charge which must be paid prior to completion of the form/ letter. The GP will decide if they need to see you for an appointment prior to completing the form.

It is very important that patients keep their appointments and arrive at or before the time allocated. There is a great deal of pressure on appointments at the surgery so it is extremely important not to waste a slot by not attending. That appointment could have been given to another patient.

If you are more than 10 minutes late it is up to the Clinician to decide if they are still able to see you.

Always let us know if you wish to cancel a pre-booked appointment.

Think 3 before GP

Before making a GP appointment, can I?

1. Self-care
2. Use NHS UK or a similar reputable UK resource
3. Seek advice from a pharmacist

Primary Care Hubs

What are Primary care Hubs?

• You will now be able to see a healthcare professional in the evenings and at weekends
• Primary Care Hubs have been developed to improve the availability of services you would normally get from your GP practice.
• Primary Care Hub healthcare staff will be similar to those at your usual GP practice and will include doctors, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists and mental health workers.

Who will be able to use the Primary Care Hubs?

• Any patient registered with a Medway GP will be able to access the Primary Care Hubs

Who is providing the service?

• Primary Care Hubs are funded by Medway Clinical Commissioning Group as part of the national Improving Access to general Practice Programme.
• The service is provided by Medway Practices Alliance (MPA) - a federation of GP practices in Medway

How do I access the service?

• You will need to have a booked appointment to be seen in a Hub.
• Appointments must be booked via your own GP surgery in the same way you would book an appointment usually.
• You can book an appointment with your usual GP surgery reception team for a same day appointment (subject to availability) or up to two weeks ahead.
• Appointments cannot be booked directly at the Primary Care Hubs.

When and where will you be able to use the service?

• Rochester Healthy Living Centre, Delce Road, Rochester, ME1 2EL
• Rainham Healthy Living Centre, 103-107 High Street, ME8 8AA
• Lordswood Healthy Living Centre, Sultan Road, Chatham, ME5 8TJ

Outside Surgery Hours

When the practice is closed you should contact NHS 111 if you need medical advice. When you call 111, a trained advisor will ask you questions to find out what's wrong, give you medical advice and direct you to someone who can help you, such as an out-of-hours doctor or a community nurse. If the advisor thinks your condition is more serious, they will direct you to hospital or send an ambulance.

Did Not Attend

Patients who fail to attend for their appointments and do not inform the practice incur significant cost to the practice and to other patients in terms of lost appointments. The practice is committed to providing appointments to meet the needs of patients but cannot replace appointments lost due to failure to attend.

It is our practice policy to monitor all cases of patients not attending appointments (Did not Attend—DNA ) and contact will be made with all patients who fail to inform the practice that they will not be attending their appointment.

Patients who have not attended two appointments in the last year and do not contact the surgery in advance will be sent a letter.

A further non-attendance of an appointment following the issue of the letter will result in review of the circumstances by the Practice Manager and one of the Partners to determine what action will be taken.

Possible outcomes in this situation are:

1. The patient will be invited to meet with the Practice Manager to explain why they have difficulties in failing to notify the surgery.

2. The patient will receive a further warning letter that further occurrences of DNA will result in their removal from the practice list.

3. The patient will be sent a letter informing them that they will be removed from the practice list.

Please help us to help you by always cancelling an appointment you are unable to attend or no longer need.

Should you have any comments, suggestion or concerns regarding our policy on appointments please ask to speak to the Assistant Manager.

Online Services

You can book appointments and order repeat prescriptions online using the NHS app

If you are having problems logging into your online services or are having problems with the settings you can find their online support from here: NHS App help and support.