Please note that the Practice staff are happy to deal with your day to day health queries/problems but please remember that we will not prioritise someone who walks in to the Practice over someone who telephones unless it is an emergency. The Practice will do its best to see any patient with an immediate health issue within a 4 hour period. If you give your details to Reception, they will arrange for the doctor/nurse to call you back.
Appointments can be booked during opening hours shown. .
When booking an appointment face to face or over the telephone with a doctor, nurse or health care assistant our reception staff will ask you the symptoms to ensure you are booked in with the most appropriate clinician.
Routine appointments are for 10 minutes. In certain circumstances, e.g. chronic disease clinic, we offer longer appointments of 15 or 20 minutes. Please be punctual.
We offer appointments up to 4 weeks in advance when capacity allows.
Appointments start at 07:30 am Monday and Tuesday. 8am Wednesday to Friday and the last appointment on these days is generally 17:30 (we are closed at lunchtime on a Tuesday between 12:00 – 13:00 for staff training and development).
The appointments we offer are a mixture of those that can to be booked on the day and those that can be pre-booked. To make an appointment simply ring us and we will try and fit you in on the day that you ring. If possible we will also try and fit you in with the doctor that you prefer. Please click here to see when doctors are usually available for routine appointments. Practice Nurse or Health Care Assistant appointments are offered on each working day. When visiting the surgery please use the public car park off Askew Road West.
The practice nurse carries out reviews on many ongoing conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
There are a lot of other services which our practice nurses can see you for including coil checks, contraceptive injections, contraceptive pill checks, inserting, replacing and removing contraceptive implants, dressings, holiday vaccinations, preventative health screening, smear tests and a variety of other services.
When making an appointment with the nurse, please indicate to the receptionist the reason for the appointment as this will help to ensure you are booked in with the appropriate clinician. The practice nurses work every day.
Our healthcare assistants are an important part of our nursing skill mix. They give Lifestyle advice (smoking, weight loss, etc), carry out simple examinations like blood pressure checks, weighing, temperature, height, urinalysis. They also take blood, do simple dressings, ECG’s and peak flow measurements.
All the doctors and nurses are happy to discuss and give medical advice on the telephone. If you feel able to discuss your problem over the phone please let the receptionist know anytime during our opening hours and they will arrange for a doctor or nurse to give you a ring back as soon as they can.
Gateshead Extra Care Service now provides additional appointments with local GPs. This service offers appointments at:
QE – Outpatients
Monday to Friday 09:00-14:00 & 15:00-20:00, Saturday 10:00-15:00 & 15:00-20:00 and Sunday 10:00-15:00
Blaydon – Blaydon Practice
Monday to Friday 09:00-14:00 & 15:00-20:00 and Saturday 09:00-14:00
Please contact us to make an appointment, the receptionist will ask you the symptoms before booking as some problems are not appropriate for these appointments.
Patients are requested, where possible, to telephone before 10:30am if a home visit is required that day.
We would request that apart from the genuinely housebound, all other patients attend the surgery rather than request a home visit because of the extra time home visiting takes. On average four to five patients can be seen in surgery in the time it takes to do a single house call. In addition, the care that can be offered due to the lack of adequate lighting, examination facilities and equipment means that you may not receive as good a service as the doctor may be able to offer if you came to the surgery.
Please note that the doctor may telephone you rather than visit you if this is medically appropriate. Ultimately it is the doctors right to decide whether or not a visit is appropriate for a particular set of circumstances.
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.
Please note reminders are only send for face to face appointments. Reminders are not sent for telephone appointments.
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. If you fail to notify the Practice that you are unable to attend, you will be sent a letter informing you that you have defaulted from your appointment. Persistent defaulters maybe removed from the list.
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). You can also text to cancel your appointment.
