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April 2026: Important changes to our appointment booking systems

We now record all patient requests electronically

From the start of April 2026, general practices are legally obligated to capture all patient requests electronically. This means that no matter how you contact us – whether online, by phone, or in person – your request will be entered into our online consultation system FootFall, so that we can record, review and action it in the right way.

Appointment Requests

To make things faster and easier for you, whenever possible: please submit your request directly through FootFall. This helps our team to review your request quicker and respond more efficiently to your needs. FootFall is open for urgent appointment requests Monday to Friday, 7:00am – 5:30pm only. If you have an urgent appointment request from 5:30-6:00pm, please call reception.

If you find it difficult to complete the online form yourself, or don’t have internet access, don’t worry: our reception team can still help you over the phone or when you walk in. They will complete an online form on your behalf, with your input. They may need to ask you a few more questions to do this. This information is securely saved to your medical record.

What happens once I have submitted my appointment request?

To support this change, from 7th April 2026 we are moving to a doctor-led triage system. This means that requests for appointments will be initially reviewed by a GP before an appointment is allocated, to ensure you receive the care that is most appropriate to your needs, in a timeframe that matches the urgency of your issue.

Once your appointment request has been entered into Footfall, whether by yourself or with support from a receptionist, a GP will review it promptly to assess the urgency and next steps. Depending on the circumstances, the GP may do any of the following:

· allocate you an urgent (same-day) appointment

· allocate you a routine appointment in the next 1-3 weeks

· phone you briefly to request some more information, or ask another member of staff to do so

· communicate directly with you by text message or email

· action your request without an appointment, such as by issuing a prescription or making a referral if this is appropriate

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list: each request will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. There will be a small number of exceptions made for cases of high clinical urgency, where administrative staff can directly book an appointment without waiting for GP triage.

If you have been allocated an appointment following GP triage, you will then be contacted by one of our reception staff, care navigators or clinicians with further information about your appointment.

We aim to review all queries on the same day they are received. Response times will vary depending on the urgency of the request.

Administrative requests

FootFall is open for administrative requests at all times. Please note that is for non-urgent enquiries only: such requests are only reviewed during normal business hours, from 08:30-5pm Monday to Friday. Please do not submit appointment requests, or any other urgent requests, outside of these times.

How you can help

Thank you for your patience and support while we embed these new changes, which will help us improve access and provide safe, timely care for all our patients.

When submitting a Footfall request, we ask that you provide enough pertinent information to help us triage your request effectively. For example: what is the problem or symptom, how severe is it, is it a new problem or a change in an existing problem, how long has it been going on for, and is there anything you are particularly worried about. We appreciate that it can be hard to know what is and isn’t relevant, but ask that you try to keep the request focused and avoid lengthy passages of extraneous information.

If you are requesting an appointment in person at the practice, there will be a delay while your information is entered into FootFall then triaged by a doctor, during which time you will have to wait for the outcome. You will not be given an appointment immediately by reception unless it a clear emergency. Please also appreciate that attending the practice in person does not circumvent the process or affect the clinical urgency of your request: the outcome of GP triage may still be that you come back for a scheduled routine appointment in the next 1-2 weeks. It is for these reasons that we encourage patients to contact us via FootFall in the first instance, wherever possible. We appreciate your understanding during this process.

Urgent Appointments

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 to request one (from 7:00am via FootFall, or 8:30am by phone or in person)
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

We offer appointments with a range of healthcare professionals, including GPs, nurses and physician assistants
We offer face to face appointments at the surgery and telephone appointments
When requesting appointments, please tell us whether you prefer a specific health professional, or mode of communication and we will do our best to accommodate
Please inform us if you need an interpreter or have any other special access or communications requirements
Please provide enough information for us to clearly understand the reason for your appointment and the issues to be discussed
We may ask you for further information to help us choose the most suitable person and type of appointment to help you

Chaperones

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.

Immediate action required: Call 999 or go to A&E now for any of these:

Signs of a heart attack
chest pain, pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across the chest

Signs of a stroke
face dropping on one side, can’t hold both arms up, difficulty speaking

Sudden confusion (delirium)
cannot be sure of own name or age

Suicide attempt
by taking something or self-harming

Severe difficulty breathing
not being able to get words out, choking or gasping

Heavy bleeding
spraying, pouring or enough to make a puddle

Severe injuries
after a serious accident

Seizure (fit)
shaking or jerking because of a fit, or unconscious (can’t be woken up)

Sudden, rapid swelling
of the lips, mouth, throat or tongue

Labour or childbirth
waters breaking, more frequent intense cramps (contractions), baby coming, or just born

British Sign Language (BSL) speakers can make a video call to 999.

Deaf people can use 18000 to contact 999 using text relay.

If you need help when we are closed

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

Cancelling or changing an appointment

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

Telephone consultations

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.

Late and missed 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.

Interpreters

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.

Page last reviewed: 01 April 2026
Page created: 09 June 2022

Appointments

April 2026: Important changes to our appointment booking systems

How to request an appointment