Appointments

Currently you can only make an appointment by telephoning the surgery during opening hours.  At busy times, especially in the mornings, there may be a slight delay before your call is answered so please be patient.

You can now request a Face to Face or Telephone appointment. 

If all appointments for the day are taken and your need is urgent, the doctor on-call will see you as soon as possible.  Please give the reception staff as much information about the nature of your complaint so that the doctor can be fully informed.

Urgent appointments are added to an already full surgery list.  You will appreciate that priority has to be given to those patients with previously booked appointments.  The doctor can only deal with the urgent problem requiring immediate attention.  If you wish to raise any other matter please book a routine appointment.

Please note: All incoming and outgoing telephone calls are be recorded for monitoring and training purposes.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many ailments and you may be seen more quickly.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 10:00.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. You may be visited by a highly experienced paramedic or a GP. They will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

 Weekend GP Service

You can now book an  appointment with a GP or Practice Nurse on a Saturday

The service is open on:

Saturdays  between 9am and 3.00pm 

Doctors and nurses appointments can be booked via reception and they are held at either :

Audley Mills Surgery

57 Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, Essex SS6 7JF  

&

Jones Family Practice

55 Southend Road, Hockley, Essex SS5 4PZ

HOW TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT:

Advance appointments can be booked via Riverside Medical Centre on our usual number. 

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A WALK IN SERVICE - APPOINTMENTS ONLY

From 1st September 2018 a limited number of evening appointments are available from 6.30pm to 8.00pm Monday to Friday across Castle Point & Rochford practices. Only one GP practice is open per evening, so please bear in mind the appointment may not be here and that you may have to travel for the appointment.

Please call us if you would like one of these appointments, which are only available to book in advance. It is NOT a walk-in service.