Care Navigation

What is Care Navigation?

A tried and tested model to help patients see the right health care professional first time, this may not be the GP.

How does it work?

Reception are here to support and guide you to the most appropriate service.  The team will ask you why you need to be seen, with this information, they can navigate you to the right person first time around.

signpost

What other services are available?

  • Practice Nurse
  • Nurse Practitioner
  • Local Pharmacist
  • Health Care Assistant
  • Patient Triage
  • First for Well-Being (IAPT)
  • Phlebotomist
  • Social Prescriber 
  • First Contact Physio
  • Clinical Pharmacist
  • Paramedic
  • Enhanced Access (evening & weekend appointments)
  • LIVI (video consultation)

We operate Care Navigation because:

  • Helps giving faster access to general practice services
  • Helps patients see the most appropriate clinician, not necessarily a GP, or service to meet their personal needs
  • By working this way, it helps to free up time for GPs to care for patients with complex or serious health conditions that can only be managed by the GP
  • More importantly, it means patients are seen by the person or service that is best placed to manage your clinical problem

Who Should I See?

We try to keep our GP appointments for patients with more serious health problems, or for conditions only GPs can deal with.  Before you book an appointment to see a doctor, please consider whether an appointment with another clinician can help as they also deal with a wide range of medical problems.

Our Receptionists will help you decide which is the right person for you to see.

Self-Care

If you have a cough, cold, headache or other minor ailment try treating yourself at home first.  Please remember that self-care for common conditions can help free up our GPs time, making it easier to get an appointment for when you need it most.

Click here for more information on minor illnesses.

Pharmacy

Your local Pharmacist can help too, they are highly trained professionals and can give you confidential health advice for a range of common illnesses. 

Your Pharmacists can also help you decide if you need to see a Doctor or Practice Nurse.

NHS 111

111 is the free NHS non-emergency number.  You should use this service if you urgently need medical help or advice, but it is not a life-threatening situation.

Call 111 if:

  • You need medical help, but it is not a 999 emergency
  • You think you need to go to A&E or another NHS urgent care service
  • You do not know who to call
  • You need health information or reassurance about what to do next

A&E

A&E is for life-threatening accidents and emergencies only.  Before you attend, ask yourself 'is this a real emergency?'. 

If not, please consider using other local health services before you visit A&E.

When booking an appointment

If booking an appointment on Systmonline, please add brief details of why you have booked an appointment.  This allows the clinician to co-ordinate your appointment ensuring efficient usage of time and resources.

If you are attending se you are following up a previous appointment, or as a consequence of test results, then please add this into the free text information box.  This should prevent duplication requests by Reception, for example just add the words test results, no further information than this is required. 

If unsure who to see, or how urgently you need to seek help, please see tab for DoctorLink.