Surgery Opening Times:

EXTENDED HOURS: We are pleased to inform you that we are now offering extended opening hours on Monday and Thursday evenings.  A full reception service will be available and we will be open for pre-booked appointments from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. 

These appointments are designed to aid the working public who have difficulty attending the surgery during normal surgery opening hours.  These appointments are NOT for emergencies.

Receptionists are present during the following hours:

Monday and Thursday  from 8.30am - 8.00pm

Tuesday, Wednesday,  and Friday 8:30am - 6:00pm

Consultation Times:

Consultations times are normally by appointment.

To make an appointment, either telephone or call during our office opening times. You may see the doctor of your choice, not necessarily the doctor whose name appears on your medical card.

We do feel, however, that continuity of care is important and if possible you should remain with the same doctor for advice or treatment of a particular condition.

Appointments

To make an appointment, please telephone or call in at the surgery. The receptionist will try to make an appointment with the doctor of your choice, if this is inconvenient, you are welcome to see any doctor in the practice.

Telephone requests for same day appointments may be dealt with by the Nurse Practitioner; your request will be noted and the Nurse Practitioner will call you back. To help the Nurse Practitioner assess the urgency of your request please try and give the receptionist as much information as possible. Please leave a convenient telephone number (preferably a land line) for the nurse to contact you.

Alternatively, if you feel your problem may not need an appointment or you would like telephone advice you can arrange to speak to the Nurse Practitioner or one of the doctors by contacting the surgery on the dedicated Telephone Advice Line 01253 864454. (We would like to advise you that for training monitoring and quality purposes all telephone conversations are recorded. Please note this will not compromise patient confidentiality)

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Telephone Advice

If you feel your problem may not need an appointment or you would like telephone advice you can arrange to speak to the nurse practitioner or one of the doctors by contacting the surgery on the dedicated telephone advice line 01253 864454. (We would like to advise you that for training, monitoring and quality purposes all telephone conversations are recorded. Please note this will not compromise patient confidentiality.) 

Out of Hours Service

For out of hours calls when the surgery is closed please ring 305895 - this is the number of the Fylde Coast Medical Services - a co-operative of local family doctors who provide out of hours calls for each other.

The Fylde Coast Medical Services have a dedicated, fully equipped Primary Care Centre at 88 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool and if appropriate they may ask you to attend the centre. Please use this service only if medically urgent so that the service can respond to urgent calls promptly.

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NHS Direct

If you require health information or advice, NHS Direct (a 24 hour nurse - led advice line) is available on 0845 4647, website address www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

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Serious Emergencies

Dial 999 For An Ambulance: Any difficulties in contacting the doctor DIAL THE OPERATOR - 100

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Blackpool NHS Walk-In-Centre

28 Talbot Road
Blackpool
FY1 1LF

For patients with minor injuries or illness the walk-in-centre on Talbot Road Blackpool town centre offers consultation and assessment by experienced nursing staff. The centre offers advice on all aspects of self-care and is able to treat a wide range of minor illnesses and injuries. It offers fast, efficient and convenient access to healthcare advice and information on local health services.

No appointment is necessary and the centre is open from 8.00am – 9.00pm Monday to Saturday and from 9.00am – 8.00pm Sundays and bank holidays. Christmas Day 10.00am – 4.00pm.

The centre is only for walk-in patients and is unable to deal with medical enquiries over the telephone.

Home Visits

Home visits are available, and where possible should be requested before 10:30am. However unnecessary visits are made which reduce the time available to see patients at the surgery.

A home visit by a GP is appropriate where a patient is either terminally ill or bed bound - when travel by car could cause a deterioration in the medical condition or unacceptable discomfort.

A visit may be made (but more usually an emergency ambulance is sent) when there is myocardial infarction (heart attack), severe shortness of breath or severe haemorrhage (bleeding).

Situation where home visits are not deemed necessary:

• Symptoms of fever, cold, cough, sore throat, flu, back pain, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting and most cases of abdominal pain. These patients are well enough to be brought to the surgery by car.
• Children with a temperature are not at further risk from going outdoors.  They may not be well enough to walk or travel by bus but car transport would be acceptable.
• Common problems in the elderly such as poor mobility, joint pain and generally feeling ill would also be best treated at the surgery where we have more resources.  The exception to this is if the patient is bed bound.
• The doctor should not be expected to spend time on a visit due to transport difficulties.  Please ask for help of friends or neighbours or consider the use of a taxi service.

Telephone Recording

Telephone conversations are recorded to help ensure quality.  Recordings may be used for training and monitoring.  However, this will not compromise patient confidentialty.