Sign inAppointments
Patients are normally seen by appointment only. The workload is shared by the doctors available on any given day.
This means there may not be a vacant appointment with the doctor of your choice on the day requested. You will, however, be offered the first available appointment with the other doctor. Please remember to make a separate appointment for each person wishing to be seen.
Please inform the receptionist if you need a longer than usual appointment for additional discussions.
The doctors are happy to do medicals for HGV, Taxi or similar. Medicals usually take at least 30 minutes and therefore are not done during a normal surgery but before or after a surgery.
For routine matters please arrange to see your usual doctor, who will know your medical history. Try and make follow-up appointments well in advance, avoiding Mondays.
Same day appointments can be made by phoning the practice at 8:45am and we also have appointments that are pre bookable.
DNA’s (did not attend)
Please contact the surgery as soon as possible if you are unable to attend your appointment. Missing appointments not only wastes the time of everyone concerned but also means that another patient, who could have been allocated your appointment, has to wait.
When the Surgery is Closed
If you require urgent medical attention when the surgery is closed you should telephone the normal surgery number (0191 413 3459) and listen carefully to the recorded message. Always have a pen and piece of paper ready before you dial the number, as you will be given two different numbers to ring depending on the time of your call. Gateshead Doctors on Call (GATDOC) provide our out of hour’s service.
Gatdoc cover during the following times:
- Monday to Friday from 6.00pm to 8.00am
Weekends 6.00pm on Friday night to 8.00am Monday morning
Bank Holidays – 24 hour cover
The person you speak to is based in a call centre they will require your personal details i.e. name, address, telephone number, date of birth, the name of the GP or surgery you are registered with and brief details of your medical problem. The call centre will then pass all your details onto GATDOC. Once GATDOC have your details a Doctor will ring you and either
- Offer you advice
- Arrange for you to come to the Primary Care Centre based at Bensham Hospital in Gateshead for care or
- Arrange a visit for you at home
Leaflets giving details of the service are available from the surgery; please keep them by your phone.
Urgent Problems
If you feel that your problem is urgent and our staff are unable to offer an appointment that day, a doctor is available who can review your case, and advise regarding appropriate action, i.e. a home visit will be arranged or an emergency appointment will be offered with the doctor or treatment given via a prescription or advice given.
We try to see as many patients as possible at the surgery as this allows us to treat many more patients in a day than is possible by home visits.
Home visits will be arranged where necessary and emergency calls will be dealt with appropriately at any time.
Try and make follow-up appointments well in advance, avoiding Mondays.
Repeat Prescriptions
You may obtain repeat prescriptions if your doctor agrees. You can phone the surgery after 9:30am Monday to Friday to place a request.
Written requests should be made by using the right hand side of your prescription form. We are happy to receive postal requests, which will also take 48 hours after their receipt.
All requests for prescriptions will be ready to collect after 48 hours.
Repeat prescriptions can be taken by you (the patient) to any pharmacy. Our local pharmacies do offer to collect prescriptions from the surgery but this must be requested at the pharmacy of your choice by you.
Registration
To register as a patient you must live in Clara Vale, Crawcrook or Ryton. If you have a medical card there is a section, which you should complete if you want to change your GP. If you do not have a medical card you can get a GMS1 form from the surgery. Once you have completed either your medical card or a GMS1 form we can then register you as a patient.
New Patient Checks
New patients will be requested to complete any necessary paper work and attend an appointment with the practice nurse to have a new patient health check.
