Appointments and emergencies
Making an appointment
To make an appointment, please call +44 (0)1895 234426 or +44 (0)1895 266904. If you will not be able to make it to an appointment, please call us to cancel on the numbers above, so that we can make it available for someone else.
When medically necessary, we will see patients the same day. However, please respect this facility and your fellow patients by not requesting to be seen urgently when your problem could wait until the following day.
Home visits
We ask that all requests for home visits are made before 11am. A visit is made at the doctor's discretion and not at that of the person requesting the visit.
Please remember that a home visit is only made when it is medically impossible for a patient to get to the surgery. Being seen in the surgery allows a better consultation; any necessary equipment or services are available, and we can see more patients each day. Home visits are not made for social or personal reasons.
Emergencies
During surgery hours:
During surgery hours, ring our reception on +44 (0)1895 234426, and state that your case is urgent. The receptionist will be able to make you an appointment at short notice, or, if it is necessary, arrange for a doctor to visit you at home.
Out of hours:
In the case of an emergency when the surgery is closed, you may ring +44 (0)1895 234426 at any time. You will either be answered by a taped message giving the number of the doctor on call, or be automatically transferred to our deputising service. Be ready to give the name, full address and age of the patient, together with an indication of the nature of the problem.
Our out of hours deputising service is contracted by our local Primary Care Trust and provided by Harmoni. It is intended only for medical problems which cannot wait until the following working day. Please note that only patients registered at the Medical Centre can be seen by the deputising service.
If you cannot wait for an appointment, you may wish to consider:
- dialling 999, in the case of a genuine emergency;
- calling NHS Direct on +44 (0)845 4647 (+44 (0)845 6064647 for deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired patients) or visiting the NHS direct website;
- attending the Accident and Emergency department at Hillingdon Hospital (travel information can be found on the Hillingdon Hospital website).
Why do surgeries run late?
No one likes to be kept waiting and doctors don't like to get behind, so why do surgeries run late? Sometimes the reason is simple – a traffic jam or computer breakdown. Other times it is more complex – an emergency or distressed patient. However, the single biggest reason why we run late is because patients save up lists of problems, often assuming that it is helpful to get them all sorted in one go. When several patients do this in one surgery, the over-run becomes significant.
Please remember - one appointment is for one problem. Request longer appointments or make further appointments to discuss extra topics!
Sick notes
Many GP appointments are wasted to provide unnecessary sick notes, so the University Health service will not issue sick notes unless the following criteria are met. Patients who insist upon a sick note outside of these guidelines can request a private sick note, but a charge will be payable for this private service.
Students: the University states that illness causing absence lasting seven days or less does not require certification by a doctor. Please complete a self-certification form, which can be obtained from Reception or from your School office. Longer periods do require a doctor's note.
Employees: legislation set out by the Department of Work and Pension states that if you are unwell and absent from work for up to seven days you should self-certificate using form SC2, which can be obtained from Human Resources. Sickness causing absence of seven days or more requires a doctor’s note. Please note that each and every day following the first day of absence is counted, including weekend days and days that you might ordinarily not work.
Self-employed persons: the same regulations apply as for employees, except that form SC1 is used instead.
