Booking appointments

GP and Paramedic appointments:

All your consultations with Doctors and Paramedics will initially be carried out by phone and can only be booked on the day. Just call Reception or go online before midday - you can book online from 6.30pm the previous evening.

We offer Duty Doctor appointments until 6.30pm each weekday, so you can access the help you need for urgent on-the-day issues, regardless of who your usual GP is.

Click here to go to the Doctors’ working patterns section of our website where you can see which day you can access your usual GP.

If there is another GP you would prefer to speak to regarding an on-going condition for which they have been treating you, you can book a call with them instead.

When you call, a Receptionist will ask for a brief indication of your problem so that the Clinician will have an understanding of what you need before they call you back. It also helps us to prioritise those with the most urgent need. You don’t have to give this information if you would prefer not to.

Your usual GP, or the Duty Doctor if it’s urgent, will call you back for a telephone consultation at some point during the day. For this reason, please make sure that you give us a contact number where we can reach you. The call may come from an unrecognised number, or ‘Number withheld’. Please note that telephone consultation times are approximate.

If the Clinician you speak to decides that you should have a face-to-face consultation they will book the appointment for you to be seen.

For urgent Home Visit requests, please call as early as possible on the day.

Nurses, Healthcare Assistants, our Specialist Diabetes Nurse, and Pharmacists appointments:

Most appointments with members of our Nursing Team can be booked up to four weeks in advance.

Why a same day GP appointment service?

• Better access to routine GP telephone appointments

• Makes it easier for you to speak to your usual GP, so we are able to provide better continuity of your care

• It’s easier for you to get the most appropriate advice and help, more quickly

• GP phone consultations can resolve many problems, possibly saving you a trip to the surgery

• Helps social distancing when Covid levels are high

• If the GP thinks it’s best to see you face to face, they will book the appointment for you during the call, usually for the same day.

Non-urgent appointment requests

For non-urgent problems, please consider using our secure eConsult service.

Note

Please do not use eConsult to request your repeat medications. Instead please use the NHS App or Patient Access, or pop your request into our letterbox.

Cancelling an appointment

If you cannot attend please call us to cancel as soon as possible so that the appointment can be offered to someone else. There are three ways to cancel:

• call us on 01235 512288

• text us on 07434 613843 

• If you are registered for online services, you can cancel online.

Extended hours at Didcot Health Centre

Our patients now have access to a doctor on Monday and Wednesday evenings. One of our Reception team can advise you more about this.

We also offer some Saturday morning clinics for appointments with a GP, a Nurse, and for blood tests with a Healthcare Assistant. These are generally on the third Saturday of the month. planned Saturdays in 2023 are listed below, but please note that these dates may be subject to change.

17 June 2023

15 July 2023

19 August 2023

16 September 2023

21 October 2023

18 November 2023

16 December 2023

Home visits

To arrange a home visit please contact the surgery before 10am on the day required. Your doctor will decide after speaking to you if a home visit is necessary. If you feel sure a home visit is essential, try to telephone before 10am so that the doctors can plan their visits.

Always come to the surgery if at all possible as the doctor can see you more quickly this way. Home visits usually take place around lunchtime on the day the telephone call is made. These times are subject to change. It is not possible to guarantee your doctor of choice as all visits are shared between clinicians.

Housebound patients requiring a home visit are often cared for by the District Nurse team. Please see the District Nurses' page for more information.