Patient Information

 

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

 

As we approach Christmas, many patients may worry about how to access health care over the holiday period. 

 

Opening hours

The surgery will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, but remains open from 8am to 6.30pm on our other normal working days.  

On Christmas Eve, we will be open as usual until 6.30pm. Please remember that although you will still be able to make an appointment request online or in reception until closing time, we will NOT be able to respond to all requests on the day. If your problem is urgent, please see the information below on how to get help. 

 

Do I need to request an appointment with a GP?

Accidents and emergencies

Please attend A&E or UTC if you have an accident and believe you need wound care or an x-ray due to the accident. 

Pharmacy First

Most pharmacies can offer prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP or make an appointment. This is called Pharmacy First.

Conditions they can offer prescription medicine for are:

  • impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
  • infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
  • earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
  • sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
  • sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)
  • urinary tract infections (UTIs) (women aged 16 to 64 years)
  • shingles (aged 18 years and over)

You can find your local pharmacy providing this service via the NHS website

Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS)

The East Kent Minor Eye Care Service (MECS) is an NHS funded service which provides patients aged 5 and over, with appropriate treatment closer to home for the following conditions, without the need to see a GP:

  • Sudden or recent reduction in vision in one or both eyes
  • Red eye(s) or eye lids
  • Pain and/or discomfort in the eyes, around the eye area or temples
  • Recent onset or sudden increase of flashes and/or floaters in one or both eyes (appears like a fly, black specks or a cobweb moving across your vision)
  • Significant recent discharge from or watering of the eye
  • Trichiasis (in growing eyelashes)

You can find information on how to contact a local service to arrange an appointment on the Primary Eyecare website

 

Requesting an appointment: how does it work? 

When you complete an Anima appointment request online or with a receptionist, your details are automatically arranged into a list within our software system. The requests for children under 5 years old will always be reviewed first. Every appointment request is looked at by a GP to decide the best course of action, which may be a prescription, a call for advice, a referral to another service, or an appointment. The GP triaging on that day sits upstairs in the Surgery with two receptionists who then action the decisions made by the Doctor. 

Due to the high number of requests we currently receive, we are NOT able to respond to all patients on the same day. It can take up to three days to respond to routine requests. If your symptoms worsen whilst you are waiting for response, please attend UTC/A&E.

Thank you for your patience whilst we try our best to work through these in order to manage your health issues with the resources available to us. 

Home visits and housebound patients

We can ONLY visit patients that are not able to leave their home. Please call directly into reception before 12 noon to request a visit. Patients on the home visit list before 12pm will receive a triage telephone call from an Advanced Practitioner on the same day. If your problem is urgent you can still call later in the day for advice. 

 

Waiting times for appointments

The Government change to our contract on 1st October lead to increased waiting times of up to 4 to 5 weeks for a routine GP appointment. We are pleased to announce that due to the extra clinics and hard work of our staff we have been able to reduce this. There is currently a 2 ½ to 3 ½ week wait for a routine GP appointment. We continue to hold a few appointments to try to manage more urgent issues within a shorter waiting time.  

 

Whilst we wait for your appointment

Routine problems may need to wait a little longer but we will always try to arrange any necessary tests in advance of your appointment. 

If your symptoms worsen or change whilst you are waiting for an appointment, please complete another Anima request, contact reception or attend UTC/A&E

 

How can I find an urgent treatment centre?

The Waitless app is a free NHS app for finding the quickest place for non-life-threatening urgent care, showing real-time waiting times, queue numbers, and combined travel/wait times for Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) and Minor Injury Units (MIUs) in the area.

Published: Dec 23, 2025