Consultations with doctors and nurses are available by appointment on weekdays. We generally allow 10 minutes per appointment and try to keep to time, but please understand that some patients with complex problems cannot be dealt with in 10 minutes and you may be kept waiting. If you know that you will need more time, please ask if this is possible when booking your appointment, but bear in mind that this will mean fewer appointments available for other patients.

You can book an appointment with the doctor or nurse up to eight weeks ahead.

Which doctor or nurse?
We try to provide as much choice as possible but also feel that continuity of care is important. We suggest that you book follow-up appointments for a continuing problem with the same doctor or nurse who saw you at the last appointment. We all have special interests and expertise and work closely together, so that we may ask you to see a different person or have a joint consultation.

Urgent Appointments
We undertake to see anyone with an urgent problem on the same day by providing a number of same day appointments.  Our Practice Nurses (see above) are also available daily from 8.00am to give telephone advice or surgery appointments on the day.

Making Appointments
You can phone or call at Waterhouses or Alton surgery during normal opening hours to make an appointment. If you are attending for a blood test or clinic appointment, the nurse may make your next appointment during the consultation. We usually have the appointments schedule available two months in advance.

You can also book an appointment online once you have registered for this facility at the reception counter at Waterhouses or Alton.

Please let us know if you are unable to attend your appointment so that we can allocate it to another patient if needed.

Telephone Consultations
Some issues can be dealt with by phone and the doctors and nurses reserve time each day for returning phone calls. Leave a message with the receptionist if you would like a call saying to whom you would like to speak and, where possible, what it is about (e.g. test results). All messages are logged on our computer system and dealt with as soon as possible. We prefer not to have consultations interrupted except in emergency.

All the outgoing phones in the Practice are "withheld numbers". If you ask for a call from a doctor or nurse please ensure that you give a telephone number that does not bar these calls, eg a mobile phone or work number if relevant.

Medical Students

This is a training practice, and we often have medical students at different stages of their training working alongside the doctors and nurses. When you make an appointment you may be asked if you are willing to see  a student before you see the doctor. Your help in the training of our future doctors is greatly appreciated by the practice. However if you prefer not to talk to a student please do not hesitate to say, and you will be offered another appointment with just the doctor.

Please see our Meeting Medical Students leaflet for more information

How to make the best of the appointment system
All surgeries are by appointment and can be made in person, by telephone or online. Please give us as much notice as you can for non-urgent appointments to enable us to offer you the widest possible choice of dates and times.

Our two Practice Nurses, Alison Hawley and Ann Strang, run dedicated hypertension and diabetes clinics respectively, together with Well Woman and Well Man and Family Planning clinics. Please specify which clinic you would like to attend when making your appointment. Everyone is welcome to a routine health check with one of the nurses ever three years, by appointment.