Please call the surgery to arrange an appointment with a clinician.

Reception will ask for a brief description of the reason for the appointment to direct you to the most appropiate clinician for your problem. You may book to see a clinician of your choice in advance.

We offer a number of appointments on the day and once these are booked we can only offer emergency appointments for urgent conditions.

Once todays appointments have been filled our recorded telephone message will be updated.

Routine appointments are also offerd at our PCN Hub in Buckhurstway.

Use our online service, eConsult, to quickly access advice and treatment.

• Request or book an appointment with the Surgery if needed
• Get guidance on the right care
• Request fit notes

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER eConsult

Once your completed your eConsult, this is then sent to the practice and reviewed.  

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

Improving Access to Care: Moving to a Total Triage System from 1 October 2025

We know how important it is for our patients to access the care they need, when they need it. Many of you have told us that getting this care can be challenging, particularly when phone lines are busy or appointments are quickly filled. From the 1st October 2025 the NHS have asked us to change the way that patients contact the practice.

To help address these issues, we’re introducing a new approach called Total Triage — a system that is already being successfully used in many GP practices across the country. The NHS is encouraging all practices to move to this ‘Modern General Practice’ model to make access to care and treatment easier for patients.

What is Total Triage?

Total Triage is a new way of managing care requests, designed to ensure that all patients are assessed on clinical need and then directed to the most appropriate care, by the most appropriate person, in the most appropriate timeframe.

Every request for care made during the surgery hours will be reviewed by an experienced clinician.

You can request care in the several ways

·         Online Through eConsult – our existing online consultation tool and the most efficient way to contact the surgery.

·         By Telephone – This is for all urgent medical conditions and if you are unable to access eConsult where our team will collect the necessary information required for triage. Please note, speaking to a receptionist for a non-urgent request is likely to slow down the process of navigating and resolving your query.

·         In Person at reception – speak directly with our reception team who can help if needed to collect the necessary information.

Depending on the nature of your request, you may receive:

• A face-to-face or telephone appointment with a GP – the clinician may arrange some investigations like a blood test, X-ray or scan before the appointment so that the results are ready to discuss in time.

• A consultation with another member of our clinical team — such as a physiotherapist, pharmacist, mental health practitioner or nurse.

• A direct referral to community services such as Pharmacy First in a local Community Pharmacy or the Minor Eye Conditions Service in a Community Optician.

• A prescription, medical certificate or advice without needing an appointment.

• A direct referral to a specialist service if needed

A Familiar Format: eConsult

We will continue to use eConsult — our existing online consultation tool — as a key part of the Total Triage process.

Many of our patients already use eConsult to request help, advice, or administrative support (such as fit notes or repeat prescriptions). If you’ve used eConsult before, Total Triage will feel very familiar.

If you haven’t used eConsult yet — don’t worry. We’re here to help and will continue to support all patients, regardless of how you prefer to get in touch.

Learn how to use eConsult here

Or click here to complete an eConsult form eConsult

Equal Access for All Patients

We understand that not everyone has access to a smartphone or computer. That’s why Total Triage is designed to be inclusive and accessible for everyone — not just digital users.

If you don’t use digital tools, you can still:

• Call the practice and speak to a team member who will complete the information with you

• Visit us in person and speak to reception

Every request – regardless of the way you contact us – will be treated equally, so no one is left out or disadvantaged.

Why Are We Making This Change?

The current system doesn’t always work well for patients or for our team. You’ve told us:

• It’s difficult to get through on the phone, especially in the morning

• Appointments get booked up quickly, regardless of urgency

• Some patients are unable to call at 8am due to work or other commitments

• Some requests, such as for medical certificates or prescriptions, don’t always need an appointment — but there hasn’t been a clear alternative

At the same time, GP practices across the country are experiencing rising demand and workforce pressures. We need a smarter, safer way to prioritise care and ensure we use our time and resources effectively.

The Benefits of Total Triage

• More timely care for urgent issues

• Patients are matched with the most expert clinician for their problem — this is not always a GP

• More flexibility and fairer access for all patients

• Safer clinical decisions made earlier in the process

Accessing care when the surgery is closed

This won’t change. Depending on your problem please continue to speak to your pharmacist, use NHS 111, an Urgent Care Centre or A&E as before when the surgery is closed.

If you need to cancel your appointment please let us know asap so allowing us time to offer the slot to another patient.

You can do this in 2 ways.

1. Call the main number 0208 5084580 and select option 1 which allows you to leave a message. Please leave your name, date of birth and name of the clinician you were booked to see.
2. Log in to Systmonline or use your NHS app and select the Appointments page - this will let you view and cancel your booked appointment

To change an existing appointment please call the main number 0208 5084580 and select option 4 to speak to a receptionist.

If you need help when we are closed

If you require urgent medical assistance out of surgery hours please contact NHS111. To get help from NHS111, you can:

• Call 111
• go to 111.nhs.uk (for people aged 5 and over only)

NHS111 is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Calls to this service are free from both landlines and mobiles.

Evening and weekend appointments

Evening and weekend appointments are available at the Buckhurst Way Clinic, IG 10 6HP.  Please contact the surgery for further information or to book an appointment.  

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

If you require an interpreter to attend with you when you see your doctor please notify the receptionist and she will arrange this for you.

Please ask at reception or inform the doctor or nurse if you require a chaperone. Additionally, the clinician may request a chaperone. Our chaperones may be a member of the reception or admin team, however they have all received appropriate training.

If the clinician requests a chaperone, but you would rather a chaperone was not present, you will be offered the choice of booking an appointment with an alternative clinician.

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible.

If you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice the GP will arrange for you to be seen at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. The visit may be by the appropriate clinician.

If you are already under the care of the community nurse then you can call them direct on 0300 123 5433.

If you’re a patient at our practice, you can use the NHS App to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.

It doesn’t replace existing services. You can still contact us in the usual ways.

But, once you have verified your identity in the app, you will have easy, 24/7 access to a growing range of health services and information. You can: 

• order repeat prescriptions
• access NHS 111 online
• find NHS services
• view your health records
• book appointments
• and much more… 

If you have any problems using the NHS App, you can select ‘help’ in the top right-hand corner of the app or visit nhs.uk/helpmeapp.