If you are not able to make an appointment either by submitting an AccurRx request or, if you do not have internet access, by phone at 8.00 AM, you will be able to try again at 1.00 pm by telephone only.

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Appointments

Who can I speak to about my problem?

We have appointments available daily with:

  • Doctors
  • Physician Associates
  • Advanced Care Practitioner
  • Healthcare Assistant
  • Practice Nurse appointments - available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Through the Primary Care Network to which we belong, we also have additional options available on a shared basis with three other surgeries. This provides patients with the benefit of services from:

  • Pharmacists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Social Prescribers
  • Health and Well-being Coaches
  • Care Co-ordinators
  • Mental Health Practitioners
  • Dementia Care Co-ordinators

Some of these services provide a faster response than referral to the hospital would allow and others address areas of care that would not necessarily ordinarily be available from hospitals nor GP Surgeries.

Appointments Booked In Advance

You can book an appointment in advance for the following, either by phone or in person at the reception desk:

  • Cervical smear tests
  • All vaccinations (child or adult)
  • Diabetic Reviews
  • Asthma Reviews
  • Blood Pressure checks
  • COPD Reviews
  • Well Woman clinic
  • Contraceptive Pill Checks
  • Blood discussions (sugar levels etc)
  • Extended Hours Appointments on Tuesday evenings from 6.30 pm till 8.00 pm (see below)

Same Day Appointments for Medical Problems

For clinical problems, we only book on the day for either:

  • Fixed appointment slots with our physician Associates. These are generally face-to-face appointments, unless a telephone call is specifically requested. They will take the initial history and examination and liaise with a doctor for further examination, advice, and prescribing, if needed.
  • Our Doctors and Advanced Care Practitioner also triage a number of enquiries and then get back to patients with advice via a telephone call, video call, or may arrange a face-to-face appointment in the surgery, as is clinically appropriate. Again, these are for the same day.

Why the emphasis on same day?

This is because a large number of appointments were being wasted due to patients forgetting they had pre-booked their appointment in advance and failed to turn up or cancel. This resulted in many wasted appointments that could have been offered to someone else.

What will happen once I have requested an appointment?

There are no set appointment times for problems being triaged by our doctors and Advance Care Practitioner Nurse. We triage the requests we receive daily to ensure that those patients with the most urgent problems are prioritized. We cannot, therefore, give you a time for your appointment, so you should keep your phone to hand. We will allocate your request to the clinician best equipped to deal with your problem. This may be a doctor, but it could be our Advanced Care Practitioner or a Physician Associate or one of our PCN staff, as listed above.

The clinician will initially ring you to discuss your issue. If the clinician feels that a face-to-face appointment is needed to resolve it, they will give you a set time at which to come in. Otherwise, it may suffice to deal with the problem on the phone, by video link or using photographs.

Appointments made with our Physician Associates

are generally face-to-face unless otherwise requested. They will take a careful history from you, undertake initial appropriate examination and then can liaise with our doctors whether they need to take further history or examination, arrange appropriate investigation or provide prescriptions.

After 1:00 PM Appointments:

We release a small number of slots by phone only after 1:00 PM. These allow another option for anyone who finds it difficult to complete an on-line appointment request at 8:00 AM or who develops a problem during the morning.

No online access?

Those without online access need to ring the surgery as close to 8:00 AM as possible to request an appointment. A receptionist will complete a questionnaire for you regarding the issue you want to speak to a clinician about.

Don’t want to wait on the phone?

Please note, calls made to the surgery in the mornings are likely to involve a long wait before being answered, so you may prefer to make use of the call-back option on our phone system. This allows you to put the phone down, but retain your place in the call queue and receive a call back once your call is nearing the front of the queue. This option is offered at the end of the greeting message.

Can’t wait until tomorrow?

If you have a problem that you feel is so urgent it cannot wait until tomorrow, ring our reception team and explain the problem to the receptionist. She will submit the problem to the Duty Doctor, and if they feel that the problem should be dealt with that day, they will call you. If not, they will advise that you try to book a routine appointment the next day in the usual way.

If you need advice and guidance,

calling 111 can provide this or direct you to an urgent care centre if that is more appropriate. They have limited ability to book some reserved appointments with our doctors each day. Out of hours in the evenings and at weekends, 111 can book you to be seen by the out of hours GP service.

There are also walk-in treatment centres

at Edgware and Finchley Memorial Hospitals.

What is Extended Access?

Our Nursing staff and Physician Associates provide extended hours appointments on Tuesday evenings between 6.30 pm and 8.00 pm. These are 15-minute appointments and are face to face only on the premises. You can book these appointments in advance by calling a receptionist.

Our receptionists can also book extended access appointments

with doctors or nurses in the evenings and at weekends at one of our PCN hub surgeries or at a Barnet Federation location. The clinician will have access to your notes, can arrange tests, prescribe and make referrals. They will make a record of your visit into your notes that we hold, so that there is continuity of your notes when you are next seen here at Langstone Way Surgery.

Do you need a Home Visit?

Call reception before 11.30 AM to request a Home Visit. The doctor may call you before they come, which may result in the problem being resolved without needing to see you. If appropriate they will arrange a time to visit or refer for a member of the community health team to visit you.

None of these options good for you or are there no appointments left for today?

You can visit a walk-in Centre. These are usually open all day until quite late, but you should check the opening times for the clinic before visiting. You will be able to see a nurse or a doctor at a walk-in clinic. Our local walk-in centres are at Finchley Memorial Hospital and Edgware Community Hospital. You do not need to be registered with a walk-in centre to access care but may need to be prepared for a wait if they are busy.

Alternatively, you can call 111

for advice or to request a visit from a doctor.

Is it an emergency?

You can visit your nearest Accident and Emergency department or call an ambulance by calling 999. If you are not sure, then please call 111 who will be able to advise further.