Our healthcare team comprises a wide range of professionals.

For day to day appointments you might be seen by either a nurse, nurse practitioner, paramedic, physicians associate or a doctor depending on the nature of the problem. Our practice clinical team are specially trained to assess and treat a wide range of health conditions meaning that it will not always be necessary to see a doctor.

How our appointment system works:

For doctor enquiries and appointment requests, patients are required to submit their medical enquiry via our online Klinik platform:

https://access.klinik.co.uk/contact/unity-health 

Patients that do not have access to the internet can call or visit our reception team and they will complete the online form on their behalf.

Once the online form has been completed, it will be sent directly to our in house doctors to triage, where they will direct each patient case to most suitable clinician or health care provider, advising the most suitable time frame for the patient to be seen or contacted, based on their medical need. To enable the doctors to manage to online cases as effectively as possible, you will be required to provide a detailed description of the medical reason you are completing the online form. Any forms submitted that do not provide any medical information, for example ‘I would like to speak/see to Dr X’ will be rejected and the patient will receive a SMS message asking them to submit their enquiry providing more information. It is important that patients include as much information as possible when completing the online form, as there are several different outcomes that the doctor can make:

• Advice via SMS
• Telephone call with the most suitable clinician
• Face to face appointment with the most suitable clinician
• Self-care
• Redirect the care to an external care provider

Online platforms within primary care is a national system that has been developed and tested by the NHS Institute. The evidence shows that of all the requests for appointments, only approximately one third actually need to see a GP, one third needed to be seen by another member of the primary healthcare team (usually a member of the nursing team) and one third do not need to see anyone – the issue can be dealt with over the telephone. Adopting this system enables us to run more efficiently, better manage the demand for appointments and ensures that those who medically need access to our services, will be seen. The system should run more effectively for patients and the practice ensuring that the best service is accessed for each patient dependent on clinical need and assessment.

As we are an online platform triage practice, the receptionists cannot bypass the system, so it is important that those who do have online access, submit their enquires on https://access.klinik.co.uk/contact/unity-health keeping the telephone lines free for the patients without internet access and those who are more vulnerable.   

The following appointments can be made using patient access (You will need to register for an account with reception):

• Asthma review - Telephone or face to face appointment 
• Baby immunisations for 1year and 3year 4 months (other immunisations need to be booked via reception)
• Blood test/monitoring by invitation only 
• Contraception review by invitation only 
• COPD review - Telephone or face to face appointment
• Diabetic check (includes foot check, urine dip and blood test) by invitation only. 
• Diabetic review - Telephone or face to face appointment
• Flu vaccine for pts aged 65years or over and those aged 18-64 years with long term conditions.
• Fluenz for pts aged 2-3years.
• Injections (Prostrap, depo provera) 
• NHS Health check by invitation (Not routine annual review)
• Regular B12 injection
• Smear by invitation 

The following appointments need to be made directly with Reception: 

• Travel vaccinations
• Dressing 

It is clinically better for you to be seen at the surgery where we have better facilities, diagnostic aids and lighting to assess you. Our doctors typically see four patients in the time it takes to do a single home visit.

Home visits are for housebound patients and for those too ill to attend the surgery. Home visits are not for those who do not have transport.

If you need a home visit please contact the surgery before 10:30am if possible and give one of our receptionists details to enable a doctor to judge whether a home visit is appropriate and the urgency of your needs. A paramedic visiting service has been employed to carry out the home visits, where appropriate. If the doctor does not deem it appropriate for the paramedic to carry out the home visit, they will do this visit instead.

When it is not possible for a parent to bring their child to the surgery for a scheduled appointment, written parental consent is required. This should confirm that you are happy for the named representative to bring your child to the appointment on your behalf, be this by a grandparent, nanny or other responsible individual. Please ensure that the representative shows this letter to reception on their arrival to the surgery.

Note: if your child is coming in to see the doctor following a telephone triage call, then provided you have said to the doctor that you will not be attending with your child and explained who will be, this verbal confirmation is sufficient, and no such letter is required.

If you are unable to attend your appointment for any reason, or the health problem for which you booked your appointment has cleared up, please remember to cancel your appointment. Even cancelling your appointment with 10 minutes’ notice will enable us to see other patients in need.

Cancelling an appointment is easy by either calling the surgery or texting us back when you get your appointment reminder.

We have a large number of people who do not attend their appointments every single week leading to wasted doctor and nurse time, leading to delays in you being able to get an appointment.

Please let us know well in advance if you cannot make your appointment so that it may be allocated to another patient.

The Surgery prides itself in maintaining professional standards. For certain examinations during consultations an impartial observer (a “Chaperone”) will be required.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments providing a mobile number is saved on your medical record with consent to receive SMS messages.

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