Welcome to Oakley Health Centre
Patient Notice – Change of Appointment System
From Monday 9th December 2024
Dear patients,
In response to the growing demand for appointments (our patient population has grown significantly to over 9000), the associated increased waiting times, and because of feedback from yourselves, we have taken the decision to change our appointment system.
From Monday 9th December 2024 there will be no more requirement for triage forms to be completed.
When you contact to request an appointment our reception staff will ask you for brief details about the problem you are looking to have dealt with so they can help direct you to the appropriate person or place. The reception team are bound to the same confidentiality standards as all our clinicians, and the information you give is treated as strictly confidential.
Most appointment requests will be dealt with on the same day by an initial telephone triage appointment with a GP. The GP may deal with your problem on the phone, arrange to see you face to face later that same day, or pass you on to another health professional if this is appropriate.
When fully staffed, we will have capacity to deal with 80 triage appointments per day. Triage will close once this capacity has been reached, or at 11am, whichever is sooner.
We hope that you can see from this change that we are trying to offer the best service we can to our community. Unfortunately, we can only stretch ourselves so far and there is no perfect system without more resources and manpower being provided for general practice.
We appreciate that accessing healthcare either via ourselves or at hospital these days can be a frustrating experience, but please remember that both clinicians and reception staff are trying their best to offer the best service and care we can. We ask that you therefore show all staff the courtesy and respect they deserve.
Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in verbal abuse directed towards our reception staff, and this will not be tolerated. We will always be happy to receive polite and constructive feedback, and we promise we will continue to try to provide you with the best care we possibly can.
Dr Lars Halford, Dr Laurie Whittome, Dr Alison Caldicott, Dr Steven Waugh, Dr Neil Broome