Appointments

Following feedback from you, our patients, we have made some changes to our appointment system to offer more flexibility with a choice of telephone consultations/face to face appointments with a doctor on the day or routine pre-bookable appointments.

Contact us with AskFirst

You can contact a doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional online using a website called AskFirst.

Urgent appointments

To request an urgent appointment for today or tomorrow (Monday to Friday) during opening times:

phone us on 020 8688 0875 between 8am and 6:30pm, excluding bank holidays

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will endeavour to do our best to arrange a phone call or an appointment on the same day or as soon as possible.

Routine appointments

To request a routine appointment in advance during opening times:

phone us on 020 8688 0875
use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use your answers to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or healthcare professional to help you.

Nurse and healthcare assistant appointments

All nurse and healthcare assistant clinics are by appointment and can be arranged up to eight weeks in advance.

To book an appointment with a nurse or healthcare assistant:

use the AskFirst service
phone us on 020 8688 0875

We will use your answers to choose the most suitable nurse or healthcare assistant to help you.

This is to assist us in preparing for the clinic and to make sure we have sufficient stock or to prepare any equipment that may be required during your consultation.

NHS community pharmacist consultation service

When you call the practice, you will be asked about your symptoms. If they indicate that you can best be helped by a pharmacist, you will be offered a same day private consultation with a community pharmacist.

Community pharmacists have already successfully seen thousands of patients for a consultation for a minor illness, following a call to NHS 111. This new way of arranging consultations with the pharmacist by a GP practice, has been successfully piloted around the county.

Why are you doing this?

Pharmacists are qualified healthcare professionals and experts in medicines. They can offer clinical advice and over-the-counter medicines for all sorts of minor illnesses, and a same day consultation can be arranged quickly and at a time to suit you.

This in turns frees up GP appointments for those people with more complex symptoms who really need to see a GP.

What happens when I see the community pharmacist?

We will share your personal details with the pharmacist and details of your minor illness and the pharmacist will contact you to arrange your consultation on the same day, or at a time that suits you.

You may be seen in person in a private consulting room, if the pharmacist thinks it appropriate, or your consultation may be carried out over the phone or via video. You will be asked about your medical history and symptoms and current medication, in the same way the GP would ask you about them.

Usually, the pharmacist will provide you with advice and can sell you with an over-the-counter product where needed, if you choose. They will also send details of your consultation back to us for our records.

If the pharmacist feels you need to be seen by a GP urgently, they will call us to ensure you are seen, or they will advise you to contact the hospital Emergency Department if deemed necessary. You may also be referred back to us to arrange a non-urgent appointment or follow up.

What if I get free prescriptions from my GP?

Your pharmacist will provide you with advice on how to treat your symptoms, which may include a medicine or product. Medicines that can be purchased in a pharmacy to treat minor illnesses, are usually inexpensive and would not normally be prescribed by your GP anyway. You are free to choose if you wish to make a purchase or not.

What happens if I don’t want to see the pharmacist?

We want to ensure that you are offered an appointment with the most appropriate qualified health care professional based on your symptoms. If you have minor illness symptoms that can be treated the same day through a consultation with a qualified community pharmacist, but do not want to accept this referral, you will be offered a routine appointment with your GP at a future date.

What if the patient is my child?

Children aged over one year are eligible to use this service and can be seen by the pharmacist. Children who are able to make their own decision about their health may be seen unaccompanied.

Why is this a good thing for patients?

Community pharmacies are local, open longer hours than the GP practice and can offer you the same consultation outcome at a time that is more convenient for you. If the pharmacist thinks you need to see the GP, they can help arrange an urgent appointment for you.

Patients who have already used the service liked the convenience of having a consultation on the same day, or a day that suited them, at a pharmacy of their choice.

78% of people who had a consultation with a community pharmacist were successfully helped.

Two of the core values of Haling Park Medical Practice are to provide good access and also continuity of care for our patients and we are always looking at ways of making our appointment system more efficient so that you have better access to your doctor or nurse when you require it.

Find out more about treating minor illnesses with pharmacy first.

Book an appointment online with the community pharmacy team

Enhanced access

People who live or work in Croydon have access to a wide range of urgent care services including booked appointments with a GP available from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

Further information on the GP hubs is available on our out of hours page.

Your appointment

However you choose to contact us, we may offer you a consultation:

by phone
face to face at the surgery
on a video call
by text or email

Appointments by phone, video call or by text or email can be more flexible and often means you get help sooner.

The clinicians cannot deal effectively and safely with more than one major problem or 2 minor problems in a 10 minute appointment. Presenting with a long list, may result with the doctor advising a further appointment. If you feel you need a longer appointment, please let the receptionist know when you are booking your appointment.

Text messaging

If you have a booked appointment and we have a mobile phone number for you, we will send you a text reminder 1 week prior as well as 24 hours prior to your appointment. Please ensure that we have your mobile number and let us know if your number changes.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

To cancel your appointment:

use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
use the AskFirst service
phone us on 020 8688 0875 during opening times

If you need help when we are closed

If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.

NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
if you require an interpreter, please inform us at least 3 days before your appointment. The service covers a large range of languages
if you have any other access or communication needs

Home visits

Home visits are at the discretion of the doctors and are meant for the elderly, housebound, terminally ill or those who are genuinely too ill to come to the surgery. A doctor can see up to five patients in the surgery in the time it takes to do one visit. Requests should be made before 10:30am. Please give details of your problem to the receptionist. A doctor will phone you back and if he/she thinks that your problem does not need a visit they will give appropriate advice. The doctors undertake visits between 1pm and 3:30pm.

We see over 200 patients per weekday in surgeries and clinics. Those patients demand immediate appointments for non-urgent problems, without booking, create delays for doctors, staff and patients who have made an appointment. All serious cases and patients with genuinely urgent problems will always be seen. If you are unable to wait for a routine appointment, please give the receptionist brief details of your condition/illness to help make the appropriate arrangements.