Same day Appointments - our pledge

"your call is important to us........"

Our telephones are at their busiest at 8:30 in the morning. If you are calling for an appointment that day, contrary to popular belief, you do not need to telephone at 8:30 on the dot.

For Dr Wolfe, Dr Gompertz, Dr da Cunha, Dr Nicholls and Dr Hunt call before 12:30pm

For Dr Vriend and Dr Thomas call before 11:30am

..and we will give you a same day appointment

A same day appointment is not guaranteed to be with your preferred practitioner; for that, you will need to book an appointment in advance.

We hope this helps relieve the telephone congestion you may have experienced to date.

Appointments

Both practices at Vine Surgery operate an advanced access system.

All our surgeries for both doctors and nurses, are divided into pre-bookable 10 minute appointments and same-day slots.

The bookable appointments can be booked up to four weeks in advance.

Please try to save the appointments at the end of the day for those who can only come after work.

The same-day 10 minute slots can only be booked that day.

We appreciate that restricting forward booking may inconvenience a few however this system means that we can always offer you an appointment within 1 working day.

This system has also greatly reduced the number of patients who just do not attend, wasting all our time and reducing your access to us.

If you want to see a particular doctor you may have to wait a little longer.

One of the doctors is on duty each day and may occasionally be called out during surgery to deal with an emergency. Please be patient. If there is a long delay, we will try and arrange for you to be seen by another doctor.

After 1pm all requests for same day appointments will be taken by reception and the practice nurse will telephone you after 2pm to discuss with you how best we can help with your problem. This is called triage.

All doctors and practice nurse clinics are by appointment.

By co-operating with us in the smooth running of our appointment system, you will be able to see a doctor or nurse when you wish.

Telephone Consultations

Patients registered at Vine Surgery have the opportunity to book an advanced telephone consultation with a doctor. These telephone consultations should be used when you need advice but the doctor does not need to see you.

The consultations will take place at a fixed time each morning. The times available depend which doctors are working that day.

You will be asked to leave your name and telephone number for the doctor to return your call. Please state the name of the doctor that you would like the telephone consultation with.

You will be contacted as near as possible to the pre-booked time. Please take into account that at busy times the surgery may run late when expecting a telephone call from the doctor.

If you would like to use this service, either pre-bookable in advance or to book on the day, contact reception on 01458 841122.

Out of hours

After 6:30pm and before 8:00am, Monday to Friday, weekends and public holidays:

To contact the emergency 'Out of Hours' doctor phone 0845 408 8000

Vine Surgery is a member of the Dorset and Somerset Urgent Care Service Hub 'out of hours' co-operative.

During the out-of hours period there is a doctor available to give urgent medical advice and will arrange a home visit if necessary.

You may be asked to attend a treatment centre at a local hospital, but this will be by appointment only.

The 'Out of Hours' service is for urgent medical problems only.

Other problems should wait until normal surgery hours when patients' records are available.

Whilst our doctors take part in the 'Out of Hours' rota, you may receive advice or see a doctor from another surgery, depending who is on duty.

All advice, medication or other treatment given by the Emergency doctor, will be notified to us in due course, so we can update your records accordingly.