17/03/2020
All appointments from now on will be initially assessed with a telephone consultation. The diagram below hopefully illustrates the process we will be following, based on updated guidance from NHS England.
Telephone calls will be either from a Cambridge (01223), a Peterborough (01733) dialling code, or sometimes without any caller ID. We will try and give you a rough time the clinician will be calling so please have your phone to hand and try to be in an area where you can receive phone calls.
The clinician will try ringing your number twice, usually a few minutes apart. The clinician you speak to will be able to look at your medical record whilst you are talking to them.
The clinician will assess whether you need to be seen face to face at the surgery or if your consultation can be resolved on the phone only. They may ask questions which you think they should know the answer to already by looking at your medical record, but this could be to ensure what is on the record matches with what you are currently doing.
You will also be asked if you are displaying any symptoms of COVID-19 to ensure we minimise any potential risk to other patients and staff.
From our experience, most consultations can be resolved over the phone, and we do have face to face appointments available each day for the clinicians to book patients into.
Any face to face appointments offered may not be with the same clinician you talk to on the phone so you may be asked similar questions.
We will be assessing the appointment system everyday and further adaptations may be necessary if staffing levels change.
We thank you for your patience in what are challenging circumstances at the moment.
