Appointments

At the Tile House all patients have a named accountable GP, who is responsible for your overall care at the Practice, if you do not know who this is you should contact Reception who will be able to tell you, if you have a preference as to which GP this is we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.

To maintain continuity of care we prefer you to see your own doctor for routine appointments whenever possible.

80% of appointments are routine pre-bookable, this means that there are now more routine appointments available so that you can be seen by your own doctor, these are now all 10 minute slots. To book one of these advance routine appointments please ring at any time between 10:00 and 18:30.

However, if you have a medical emergency which has occurred within the last 24 hours and you feel that you need to be seen by a doctor on that day, please ring the surgery at 8am, you may be booked into one of our emergency slots or your details will be taken and the duty doctor will ring you to discuss your symptoms and to decide if you need an emergency appointment, if you require an emergency afternoon appointment please ring at 1.30pm as these are not released until then, and these are limited.                        

The telephone lines can be very busy especially early in the morning. If possible, for non-urgent matters, please telephone after 10:00.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many conditions and you may be seen more quickly.

Accidents and Emergencies

Minor injuries may be dealt with by the Nurses at the surgery (please ring for an appointment and advice), but for major problems patients should attend the nearest Accident and Emergency department, located at Basildon Hospital or Queens Hospital, Romford, or Orsett Minor Injury Service. (Always ring this service before attending to confirm that they can deal with your problem on 01268 592300.)

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Home Visits

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. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you must ring us by before 10:00 on 01277 227711. All requests for home visits are triaged by our morning duty doctor to determine if you need a visit or not. Requests for non-urgent home visits can be made in advance.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Acute Home Visiting Service - this is a new service in Brentwood funded by the CCG and run by BB Healthcare Solutions - when you request a visit you may receive one from this service and not by one of the Tile House Surgery doctors, this can either by a GP or an Advanced Nurse Practitioner whichever is deemed most appropriate. You will be advised if your visit is going to be undertaken by this service at the time that the Triage duty doctor speaks to you. These visits can take place anytime between 9am and 6pm.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

If you have registered to use our on-line services, you can complete required details for a fit note through the questionnaires section of our on-line services rather than phoning through to the surgery.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).