Appointment System

Norwood runs a mixed appointment system. This means that some of our appointments for non urgent problems can be booked up to one month ahead. In line with Government guidance however, the majority of our appointments are released 24 and 48 hours ahead. On a Monday morning, for example, some appointments will be released for Tuesday and some for Wednesday. It may unfortunately not always be possible to book with the doctor of your choice as all of our doctors are part time and demand for individual doctors can be very high.

Out receptionists will always try however to offer an appointment to suit you whenever possible.

All our appointments are for 10 minutes, if you require longer please let the receptionist know.

If you arrive late for an appointment, we cannot guarantee that you will be seen and you may need to book another appointment.

 If your call is urgent please ask for a call from the on call doctor, who will arrange an appointment that day if necessary. We have a doctor on call every day from 8am until 6.30pm to deal with urgent problems.

Please note that we have emergency appointments available specifically for children each afternoon. Please ask if your child requires a same day appointment.

 We do have some early and late appointments for people who work (before 8am and after 6.30pm) please ask if you require one of these appointments.

Also, please remember to cancel appointments if they are no longer needed.

Telephone or face-to-face contact with our receptionists is available from 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

Telephone Advice

Should you need to talk to a doctor on the telephone, you can book a telephone call by contacting the surgery.

Home Visits

Home Visits are provided only for patients who are too unwell to attend surgery. If you feel you need a visit please try to call before 11:00 am. Visits normally take place from 12:00 pm onwards.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Health Centre.

Your Test Results

Please request test results from reception between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. The receptionist will tell you if you need to speak to or see a doctor. Results can take between a few days and a few weeks to come back.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection and we will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data or they are not capable of understanding the results.

When you take your test you will be told how long it will be before the results are returned to the practice.

It is your responsibility to check your results and to make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor if your are advised to do so.