Did Not Answer Policy

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What to expect from our GP or clinician when booking a telephone /email appointment

When you book a telephone / email / video appointment with a GP, Nurse or Pharmacist, your name is added to their patient list for the day. You will be asked to record your up to date telephone number, and the nature of your enquiry. Clinicians often have 40 or more calls to make in one day and they will do their very best to contact you as near to your scheduled time as they can, but there may be delays in the event of a medical emergency.

You can imagine it is extremely frustrating both for patients and staff when patients do not answer their arranged calls.

It is important that you keep your phone with you AND ON at all times to ensure you don’t miss your booked appointment.

Calls start from the surgery from 8am and may continue until 6.30pm. Our Morning appointments are from 8am to 1pm and our Afternoon Calls are from 1pm to 6.30pm. You will be told which window you will be called in. Our doctors can not call always at exact times. Please do not ask reception for a specific time as the GP or Nurse workload for that day cannot be predicted.

The GP or Nurse may call you with No Caller ID or from a non-surgery phone. Please ensure your phone accepts calls from unknown numbers.

What happens if I miss my call?

We understand that calls may be missed from time to time.

If you miss your call the clinician will send you an sms stating that they have called and will attempt to call you once more if they are able to. You can call them back as soon as your get a message so that they know you are waiting for their call.

The date and time of your failure to respond to a call will be recorded in your clinical record, as a missed appointment.

If you miss both calls it will be your responsibility to rebook another telephone triage slot or another day.

In an emergency please contact the surgery direct and do not use the online booking tool.

Thank you for your co-operation.

What we expect

We expect you to take the appointment as seriously as our clinicians take talking to you. Our clinicians do not consult with patients in bed, in the bath, in the shops, or on the tube. We expect the same courtesy from our patients. This is a doctors appointment. If a patient persistently do not answer calls or do not show respect during the phone calls by prioritising the time with the doctor, we will request all further appointments to be face to face.