To request an appointment:

•      Use our online platform Footfall

•      Call us Monday to Friday, between 8.30am and 6.30pm, on 0207 722 4135

•      Visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist, Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 6.30pm

• For non-urgent medical issues, such as problems which have been ongoing for months or years
• Management of long-term conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes
• Discussing referrals, paperwork or advice from specialists
• These appointments are typically offered up to 2 or 3 weeks in advance and offer more choice of clinician and timings

• For situations that can't wait, such as a new illness arising in days or weeks, or a concerning new development in an existing condition
• These appointments are offered on the same day as booking
• Typically 10 minutes long and for addessing a single health issue only
• Availability for urgent appointments is limited by capacity on the day: we encourage you to contact us as early as possible after 8:30am to request one
• We triage requests to ensure that urgent appointments go to those who most need them, such as patients with potentially serious illness, children and older people, or those who are vulnerable

There are occasions when patients need to be assessed by a clinician in a way that involves an intimate examination, such as breast, rectal or genital examinations.

We will typically offer a trained chaperone for such examinations, to support the patient and help put them at ease as best as possible. If you would like a chaperone to be present during your examination, please do not hesitate to ask. 

We try our best to provide a chaperone whenever this is needed. Occasionally this might not be possible to provide immediately, and you might have to return for the examination to be carried out at a different time.

NHS 111 can direct you to the best place to get help if you cannot contact your GP during the day, or when your GP is closed (out-of-hours). You can get help from NHS 111:

• by using 111 online
• in the NHS App
• by calling 111 from your phone

Depending on what you need, 111 might advise you to:

• call 999 or go to A&E in an emergency
• go to an urgent treatment centre
• see an evening or weekend GP (out-of-hours GP)
• book a callback from a nurse
• get urgent specialist support, for dental or mental health problems
• contact your own GP surgery
• see a pharmacist for help with a minor illness
• look after yourself safely at home

It is important that you inform our reception staff as soon as possible if you are unable to attend your appointment, as this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient. If you fail to notify the practice that you are unable to attend, you may be sent a message or letter informing you that you have missed your appointment. People who persistently miss appointments may then be sent a warning letter, and removed from our patient list if this continues.

You can also complete an appointment cancellation request form via our online platform Footfall. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance. (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can also cancel your appointment by replying to a text message confirmation, if you have received one.

We have very limited capacity for making home visits and try to reserve these for patients who are genuinely housebound or cannot make it to the practice for in-person appointments. This is because of the extra time a home visit takes: four to five patients could typically be seen in the surgery in the time it takes to do a single home visit. Furthermore, the care that can be offered at home is limited due to a lack of examination facilities and equipment. Nevertheless we will always try our best to accommodate home visit requests, or provide alternative solutions when these are not possible.

Urgent (same-day) home visits

For those who might need an urgent same-day home visit, patients are requested, where possible, to book an initial GP telephone appointment as early as possible in the morning to discuss it. Please clearly inform reception or admin staff that you are requesting an urgent home visit. This will support us to manage our workload and allocate resources effectively.

During the telephone consultation, the GP will gather information and make a decision as to whether a same-day visit is needed. This will be assessed on a case-by-case basis: ultimately it is the doctor’s right to decide whether this is appropriate to each patient’s particular set of circumstances.

If the GP does feel a same-day visit is necessary following the initial phone appointment, we typically refer to the Camden Rapid Access Service. Patients cannot self-refer to this service: hence the need for a GP appointment first so we can gather the relevant information and make the referral. On some occasions, depending on staffing levels and other factors, we may send one of our own clinicians instead of referring to Rapid Access.

Routine home visits

For housebound patients requiring attention for non-urgent, long-term or ongoing medical issues, we try to book home visits 2-3 weeks in advance. This may be with a GP, practice nurse or whichever clinician we deem most appropriate. Please submit a home visit request via Footfall, or by speaking to reception, clearly stating the purpose of the visit. This will support us to manage our workload and allocate resources effectively

If you have booked a telephone consultation, you will be given a time slot when the clinician will call you. We do our best to call at the scheduled time of the appointment, but due to the nature of clinical work it is not possible to guarantee an exact time: therefore as as a general rule, you can expect a call within a 1-hour window. Please keep your phone on, audible and close by so you can answer it promptly when it rings. 

If a clinician is unable to reach you on the first attempt, they will typically try to call you again within 1 hour, and/or send you a message to keep you updated. Clinicians will call up to a maximum of three times: if they are unable to reach you after reasonable efforts to do so, your appointment will be missed and you will need to rebook for another time if the appointment is still necessary.

When booking a telephone appointment, please inform us which phone number you would like to be called on and if there are specific times you are unavailable. Please also ensure you keep your contact details up to date on our system, such as if you move house. These measures will help us to avoid unnecessarily wasting appointments.

Please attend your face-to-face appointment on time. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you may not be seen: this decision will be at the discretion of the clinician you are due to see. If you are running late but still planning to attend, please inform reception as soon as possible by telephone on 0207 722 4135.

If you miss an on-the-day appointment, and did not make reasonable attempts to inform us, you will not be able to rearrange it until the next working day (except in the event of a medical emergency that requires immediate attention).

People who persistently miss appointments may be sent a warning letter, and removed from our patient list if this continues.

If you require an interpreter, please inform reception at the time of booking so that we can allocate an appropriate amount of time for the appointment.

We use dals telephone interpreting service; unfortunately we do not have capacity to arrange face-to-face interpreters at the practice.

You are welcome to bring a friend or family member with you to translate at your appointment; however this can create problems particularly when discussing personal, sensitive or confidential issues. In such situations, the clinician may decide to use a professional interpreter instead.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about upcoming appointments.

To opt into this service, you will need to register by completing a consent form.