Appointments

Hilary Cottage runs a full appointments system. You may consult any of the doctors in the practice regardless of which doctor you are registered with, but we encourage patients to stay with one GP if at all possible. You may make an appointment by telephoning or calling in at the surgery. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, there is an additional GP surgery running until around 8pm. During these late surgeries, the Dispensary is closed and the Reception is not open for general enquiries or urgent problems. The late routine appointments can be booked in advance by any patient.

Surgery times of individual GPs

Appointments are usually given at 10-minute intervals. The receptionist will arrange the earliest convenient appointment with the doctor or nurse of your choice. If you phone for a same day appointment, the receptionist may suggest that your request is “triaged” by a doctor. She will arrange for a GP to phone you back, if possible within the next hour. (Please ensure that you are contactable by keeping the phone free). The triage GP will talk the problem through with you and agree the following:

• Can the problem be sorted out by telephone advice, or a prescription arranged for you to collect?
• If you need to see a GP, is it a problem that would be better dealt with by your own GP? For urgent problems it may be necessary to see the Duty GP, but we will endeavour to fit you in quickly with your regular GP if possible.
• Can the problem be dealt with by a same day appointment with a Practice Nurse?

Urgent cases will always be seen on the same day and you will be given an urgent appointment, specifically for that problem.

IF YOU CANNOT KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENT, PLEASE LET US KNOW IN GOOD TIME SO IT CAN BE USED FOR ANOTHER PATIENT. PLEASE TRY NOT TO BE LATE, AS THIS DELAYS OTHER PATIENTS.

Out Patients

This practice is operating the NHS ‘Choose and Book’ Scheme.

When you see a GP, if a referral to a NHS specialist is necessary, you will be offered a choice of hospitals. The GP will either create a request for an appoinment for you during the consultation, or pass your details to one of our secretaries to arrange this for you. We will provide you wilth a Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN) and a Password. You will be given a choice of the available hospital clinics and you can then choose where you would like to go. You can then telephone the number given and book your appointment, giving them your UBRN and Password. This will link your appointment to your GP’s referral letter from the practice.

If you feel that this system is too difficult for you to use, please phone the practice and ask for the secretary on 01285 712377. She will be happy to help you.

The doctors in this practice generally refer NHS patients to Fairford, Cirencester, Swindon or Cheltenham Hospitals. Many of the Swindon Consultants are now holding clinics at the new Out-Patient facilities based in Fairford Hospital.

Physiotherapy and Chiropody

Your doctor can refer you to the NHS physiotherapy and chiropody services and regular Out-Patient Clinics are held at Fairford Hospital.

Monday 1.00pm to 3.30pm. Tuesday to Friday 9.00am to noon.

From July 2009 - Children's Physio Direct ( 0-16yrs, 16-19 in full time education) is available on

01452 891409

Monday - Friday 9am -noon

The telephone lines can be very busy – the best thing to do is keep trying if engaged. If you are unable to speak to a Physiotherapist and are very worried about your symptoms, please contact the Surgery for telephone advice from a GP.

Telephone the receptionist and tell her your needs. If she cannot help, she can arrange for you to speak to a practice nurse or a doctor.

For blood and x-ray results please ring after 2.00pm as the lines can be very busy in the morning. The receptionist can usually provide results of blood tests and x-rays, rather than needing to speak to a GP.  Please note that we cannot give a patient's results to a relative unless this has been pre-arranged. This is because we have a strict duty of confidentiality to our patients and have to exercise particular caution when providing information over the telephone.

All doctors offer telephone consultations that can be booked through the receptionist. Please note that if you ask a GP to phone you, they will generally only try twice. If the doctor misses you, you will need to phone us again.

Home Visits

If you need a home visit, please telephone before 10.00am if possible. Please try to give the receptionist details of your problem as this enables the doctors to plan their rounds. Remember that we have far more medical facilities to offer at the surgery and home visits take a greater amount of the doctor’s time, which could be used for seeing several patients in the Surgery. If you have transport difficulties, most relatives, friends or neighbours are willing to help (failing that a taxi).

We will always try to ‘fit in’ urgent patients who have been brought down to the Surgery, rather than visit at home, to try to minimise disruption to surgeries.

Please try NOT to ask for a home visit because of lack of transport.