Appointments

Appointments

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

  • by phone
  • face to face at the surgery

Cancelling an appointment

To cancel your appointment:

  • use your NHS account
  • phone us on 01226 762424, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm
  • It is important that you inform the reception staff if you are unable to attend your appointment, this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient.

Urgent Care at Penistone Group Practice

Urgent Care is for patients who have a problem which needs to be dealt with that day.

  1. Reception will ask for some details, to help you get the most appropriate care.
  2. You may be referred to a Local Pharmacy, Optician, or other Community Health Services.
  3. If referred to an Urgent Care GP, they will contact you and may request a photograph to assist in deciding the best course of action.
  4. If your problem cannot be dealt with by telephone, we will arrange a routine or same day face to face GP appointment.

Appointments System

The surgery operates an appointment only system. Appointments to see the doctor or practice nurse team can be made by telephoning 01226 762424, or by using an online service.

We would encourage the use of Internet Appointment Booking. This will reduce telephone waiting times during busy periods. Please enquire at reception about applying to use this facility.

Phone lines open at 08:00am. The practice operates a telephone queuing system, and our receptionist will answer your call as quickly as possible. Urgent care appointments are available, a Doctor will call you back to make an assessment and an appointment if needed.

Appointments at Branch Surgeries

Surgeries at Thurgoland and Silkstone are booked by appointment only.

You can book your appointment by either telephoning Penistone Main Surgery on (01226) 762424 during opening hours or by going online.

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.

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 need an interpreter

– if you have any other access or communication needs

When you phone, the receptionist will ask you for some brief details to enable the doctor to priorities the visits.  It is essential that you give us a working telephone number. The doctor may phone you back to discuss the problem and decide if a visit is the most appropriate action or not.

If you are making a visit request on behalf of a patient please make sure the patient is aware of this and agrees to the request being made.  We acknowledge that some patients with significant memory problems or who are very unwell may be unable to make their own requests for visits and need help from a third party to access the right medical care.

Please do not ask a doctor to call unless you are unable to leave your home.  Patients who we consider housebound are those who never, or rarely, leave the house without significant assistance.  Age, frailty and ill health in themselves are not reasons to assume that a visit is necessary.

A GP can see three or four people in the surgery in the time taken to make one home visit, making it a very poor use of a doctor’s time if a visit is not necessary, and we would therefore request that you come to the surgery if physically possible.

Lack of transport does not necessarily make a patient housebound and is not usually regarded as a justification for a visit.  We may ask you to see if friends or relatives can bring you to the surgery or to consider arranging a taxi.

We work alongside a number of other health care professionals who visit patients at home.  Sometimes we might refer you to these agencies if we feel this would be more appropriate than a doctor’s visit.