Online Triage Consultation

Contact us online for admin queries, test results and non-urgent medical advice that does not require an appointment.

Click on the image opposite to access the system.

Appointment System

To book an appointment you can book on-line via the NHS app/Patient Access or telephone the surgery. 

When booking an appointment our reception staff will need to ask you a few questions so they can direct you to the most appropriate healthcare professional, this may be a GP or a practice nurse. The answers to these questions are confidential and ensures that you will have an appointment booked that best suits your clinical needs.

We offer pre-bookable appointments 48 hours, 7 days and 2 weeks in advance. We also offer routine on the day appointments as well as emergency appointments by calling the surgery at 08.00. 

We politely ask patients to only discuss one problem per appointment. This ensures that clinics run to schedule for the benefit of all patients. Longer appointments are available should you require an additional appointment to discuss further problems and are booked based on clinical need following an assessment.

Our receptionists are more than happy to help you booking the correct appointment type for your healthcare needs.

Should you arrive more than 5 minutes late for your appointment, our computer system will automatically mark you as not arrived and your appointment will need to be rebooked. We thank you for your understanding with this matter. 

 

Home Visits

For housebound patients we do offer home visits, however these do need to be triaged by a GP beforehand and therefore a telephone call will be required initially. 

Please call the surgery at 08.00 for a call back on the same day.

Please let reception know that it is a home visit you require with a clear description of the problem.

We also have a Paramedic Home team that attend home visits for housebound patients, therefore this is why it is triaged by a telephone call so the right clinician can be sent out. 

 

 

GP Extended Hours

GP Extended Hours

East Northants Enhanced Access Hub

The Enhanced Access Hub is a GP led evening and weekend service that offers a range of services for patients registered at surgeries across East Northants. Appointments for these services are bookable by your own GP Practice and are offered at both Harborough Field Surgery and The Cottons Medical Centre.

These appointments are limited to a set criteria however the appointments that are offered may include: 

  • GP appointments for new problems
  • Paediatric Nurses for under 6 year olds for new problems
  • Nurse Practioner - for new minor illnesses
  • Smear Clinics
  • Chronic Disease - Asthma/COPD reviews 
  • Treatment room 
  • Physiotherapy 
  • Respiratory Hub - cold/flu symptoms eg.chest infections

These services are subject to change and we will update the website with these changes as soon as possible. 

Please visit the Hub Website for more information. 

Telephone Appointments

Telephone consultations are available with a GP or Nurse Practioner.

When calling to arrange an telephone appointment the reception team will advise if a Face to Face appointment is more suitable. 

Reception will ask you for the best number to contact you on for this appointment, it is advised that you keep the surgery up to date of any changes to your details. 

With telephone appointments, we can not give an exact time that you will be called but you will receive a call that same day. 

 

Chaperones

If the doctor or nurse is going to carry out an intimate or personal examination they will explain the examination, procedure or consultation and will offer you the choice to have a chaperone present in the room during the examination or consultation.

Some clinicians may require a chaperone to be present. You can choose whether a member of staff provides the chaperone, or a person of your own choice.

If a chaperone cannot be made available at that time then another appointment will be made for you.

 

How Can You Help

You can help us by:-

  • Being on time for your appointment. Our policy is that we will give a patient 5 minutes grace before the system automatically changes to a 'Did not attend' status. You will be advised by Reception that the GP or Nurse will not be able to see you and you will be required to book another appointment. 
  • Please report to Reception or use the self check in screen upon arrival. If you do not let us know you have arrived, we cannot see you and if it is too late you will be asked to re-book your appointment. 
  • Letting us know if you need to cancel, we can then offer it to somebody else  
  • Ringing for the results of tests between 1.30pm & 4pm. 
  • If you change your name, address or telephone number let us know - we can then keep our records up to date. Please note that you can do this on-line through our website. See our home page for details of how to apply for this service. 
  • Please give the receptionist as much information as possible - this is to ensure that they can assist you as efficiently as possible. 
  • Please keep your repeat prescription sheet in a safe place – do not leave your re-ordering of medication until the last minute.
  • Please appreciate we are a large surgery with many patients and therefore are very busy at times

Cancelling or changing an appointment

If you are unable to attend your appointment then there are a few options that are available to make us aware, therse are: 

  • When you receive your appointment reminder via text message you can respond with Cancel, using just this one word will inform reception that you have cancelled your appointment.
  • Telephone the surgery to speak to a member of the reception team. 
  • You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form (this can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance (excluding weekends and public holidays)

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FOR HARBOROUGH FIELD APPOINTMENTS ONLY AND NOT EAST NORTHANTS ENHANCED ACCESS APPOINTMENTS. YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT YOUR OWN SURGERY IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL AN ENHANCED ACCESS APPOINTMENT.

Not Registered for Online Services?

Text Reminder Service

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

When you receive your appointment reminder via text message you can respond with Cancel, using just this one word will inform reception that you have cancelled your appointment.

 

Travel vaccinations

If you're planning to travel outside the UK you may need to be vaccinated against some of the serious diseases found in other parts of the world.

Please find the link below which will give more advice and guidance on the vaccinations you may require

View the NHS Travel Vaccination Advice

At least 6 weeks before travel please complete the following document and return to reception. If you are unable to access the link then you can collect a form from reception. Travel Vaccination Form

Your Travel Vaccination Form will be assessed by the travel nurse and appointment will be made for you if necessary. 

Care Navigation

Virtually everyone who calls a GP surgery to make an appointment asks to see to a GP, but very often help will be available more quickly from other highly skilled medical professionals such as nurses or pharmacists, or from another services, including the voluntary sector, who can support people with a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs.

Since January 2018 our practice has been implementing the 3 Sixty Care Partnership Navigation project in tandem with other local practices. 

Receptionists from our practice have received training as care navigators, to help them to direct patients to the most appropriate source of help.

Receptionists will then be able to refer to information about other services that are available, either in the practice, other NHS providers or the wider care and support sector.  In order to carry out this role the receptionists will have access to up-to-date web based information about local services in the health and care system.

If the public don’t want to answer the questions which the receptionists ask, they are not obliged to do so, however by doing so we can make sure that those people who really need to see a GP can see them as soon as possible. 

Training Practice

The surgery has been accredited as being suitable as a training practice for trainee Doctors and Nurses. 

The trainers in the practice are Dr Pawlik, Dr Umrao & Dr Sadek. Our GP registrars are with us for a few months at a time as part of their ongoing training. Video recordings of consultations are often used for training purposes and therefore you may be asked if you are willing to have your consultation videoed. You will be asked at the time you book your appointment if you consent to this. The training doctor and registrar are the only people to use the recording, it is then erased. to use the recording it is then erased.

There are occasions when medical students or registrars may need to sit in with one of the clinicians during your appointment. You will always be informed and have the right to decline if preferred.

Please accept these trainee practioners as a valued addition to our team and consult with them as you would any other doctor/nurse in the practice.