Configure Appointment Details

Appointment System

To request an appointment with a GP, please use the online triage form opposite.

All requests are reviewed by a GP, and appointments are offered according to clinical need.  If your query is clinically urgent, you will be seen on the day, for less urgent problems an appointment will be pre-booked ahead.

Please ensure when completing your form you indicate clearly the days/times when you are not available.

AccuRX

In an emergency please dial 999 and ask for an ambulance.

Urgent and routine appointments can be by telephone or face to face, you will be offered whichever is more appropriate. 

We have a team of clinicians at the Health Centre.  Appointments can be with the doctors, nurse practitioner, minor illness nurse, physiotherapist or pharmacist, helping you be seen by the right person first time.

Telephone consultations are not always at a specific time, we will try and give you a 2 hour window.  Please let us know what number to call you on, and any times that you are not available. 

You can use our online form to contact us for all kinds of queries, from nursing appointments to sick notes and prescription requests  

Why do the reception team ask me for information about my medical problem?

Our administrative team are hugely valuable members of the practice team. They are trained to support you in navigating your care and they may ask you for more information on your medical problems in order to ensure that you receive:

  • The most appropriate medical care
  • From the most appropriate health professional
  • At the most appropriate time
  • It also helps your doctor prioritise house visits and phone calls

Reception staff, like all members of the surgery team, are bound by confidentiality rules

  • Any information given by you is treated in the strictest confidence 
  • The practice takes any breach of confidentiality very seriously 
  • You can ask to speak to a receptionist in private away from the reception counter

Pharmacy First

The Pharmacy First scheme is a service available in all community pharmacies and means you do not need to wait for an appointment to see your doctor about certain conditions.

Treatment from a pharmacist; 

Pharmacists can suggest treatments that do not need a prescription for a range of conditions.

Most pharmacies can also offer prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP or make an appointment. This is called Pharmacy First.

Conditions they can offer prescription medicine for are:

  • impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
  • infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
  • earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
  • sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
  • sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)
  • urinary tract infections (UTIs) (women aged 16 to 64 years)
  • shingles (aged 18 years and over)

If you do not usually pay for your prescriptions, then your pharmacy will be able to supply the medicine free of charge under the scheme.  If you usually pay for prescriptions you will be charged a fee equivalent to the cost of a prescription.

The pharmacist may refer you back to your GP if they feel your illness is not treatable under the scheme or the medicine available through the scheme is not suitable for you.

Advice from a Pharmacist

Pharmacists can offer advice on a range of illnesses;

  • aches and pains
  • sore throat
  • coughs
  • colds
  • flu
  • ear infections
  • cystitis
  • skin rashes
  • teething
  • red eye

They can also give advice about medicines. This includes how to use your medicine, worries about side effects or any other questions you have.

If they cannot help you themselves, they can refer you to a GP or other health professional.

If you want to buy an over-the-counter medicine, the pharmacist and their team can help you choose.

Minor Illness Clinics

Our minor illness clinics are run by specially trained nurses who are able to treat a number of common acute illnesses such as conjunctivitis, sore throats, rashes and chest infections.

Emergencies

If you require urgent medical attention and there are no appointments available you will be able to speak to our Duty Doctor who will assess your condition over the telephone and book you an emergency slot in surgery if necessary. 

We will always fit in urgent cases but please try and contact us as soon as possible.

Nurse and Healthcare Assistant Appointments

Our Practice Nurses see patients by advance appointment only.

They are able to offer advice and treatment on:

  • Routine Immunisations
  • Childhood Immunisations
  • Travel Immunisations
  • Anti-coagulation
  • Dressings and stitches removal
  • Contraception
  • Chronic Diseases: Diabetes, CHD, Asthma and COPD

Our HCA team are able to take blood, perform ECGs and blood pressure checks and undertake annual health care checks.

Improving Access to General Practice

We are participating in a national incentive to offer evening and weekend appointments to make it easier for you to see a doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional at a time more convenient to you between 18:30 – 20:00 Monday to Friday and some Saturdays.

The aim of the scheme is to help people who may find it difficult to see a healthcare professional during the traditional surgery opening hours.

Appointments Monday to Thursday 18:30 to 20:00 will be with one of the regular Newquay Health Centre doctors.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:00 if you require a home visit.

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 hospital admission.

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

We have a team of allied medical health professionals working with the medical team at Newquay Health Centre including paramedics, physiotherapists, a clinical pharmacist and a clinical psychiatric nurse. The majority of our home visits are now done by our practice paramedic team.

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.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel an appointment so that we can offer the slot to someone else.

You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can also text to cancel your appointment.

If you need help when we are closed

Click here for information about out-of-hours arrangements.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

  • If there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
  • If you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
  • If you need an interpreter
  • If you have any other access or communication needs

Travel vaccinations

If you're planning to travel outside the UK you may need to be vaccinated against some of the serious diseases found in other parts of the world.

View the NHS Travel Vaccination Advice

Training

The surgery is committed to training, and we have a permanent but changing presence of trainee doctors and medical students.

A GP Registrar is a qualified doctor who has elected to become a GP and must undertake an initial supervised year.

Foundation Year 2 (F2) Doctors are qualified doctors who are gaining experience in General Practice.

Medical Students are training to become doctors, and patients booking in to see them will be seen initially by the student alone and then by one of our regular doctors. 

If you have any objections to seeing our students, please tell the receptionist.  We appreciate your help in giving them the opportunity to learn.