Appointments

(Please also see end of page "Making Appointments")

All services at the surgery require an appointment which can be made either by calling or attending reception, or use the online booking system.  

Our receptionists are trained to gather some information from you.  They are bound by NHS confidentiality policies.  They DO NOT make clinical decisions or give medical advice.  Sometimes it is not a GP who you need to see and they can help direct you to other staff in the practice to help you. It would be appreciated if you can give the receptionist some information when you call.  We also have Clinical Pharmacists, Physiotherapist, Mental Health Practitioner, Social Prescriber and Practice nurses and Health Care Assistants.

We are not an emergency service, therefore your condition might require you to be seen elsewhere. 

Our Resident doctors (previously called Junior or Registrar doctors) are all qualified doctors on placement in our surgery.  Most are undertaking specialist training to become GP's in the near future.  They may be with us for 4-12 months each time.  They are supervised by the senior GP team and may need to ask for advice during your consultation or after.

Patients are seen at our surgery by appointment only.

Making Appointments Please telephone 024 76332628 and select option 1.

To help with our triage system the clinical team have asked the receptionists to ask some basic questions about the nature of your problem so that they can book you with the most appropriate practitioner. 

This ensures we try and get you to the most appropriate person to deal with your query and the correct appointment length is allocated to you.  Sometimes it is not a GP who you need to see and they can help direct you to other staff in the practice to help you. It would be appreciated if you can give the receptionist some information when you call.  We also have Clinical Pharmacists, Physiotherapist, Mental Health Practitioner, Social Prescriber and Practice nurses and Health Care Assistants.

Doctor:

Practice Nurse or  Registered Nurse Associate:

It helps the receptionist and the nurse if we know why you are coming to see the nurse so that the appropriate length of time, equipment and co-ordination with a GP can be arranged where necessary.  If you know you need a routine appointment,  you can book in advance.  We keep some appointments reserved for treatments that are required on the day, such as a change of dressing, but it always helps us if you can book an advance appointment.

Clinical pharmacist: Carry out medication reviews, long term condition reviews such as Diabetes, hypertension etc, and can help you with medication issues such as side effects and dose changes.  Our pharmacists are also training to be Independent Prescribers.

Blood clinics (including patients who are not registered at our practice):

Our phlebotomist and Health Care Assistant run blood clinics. Patients are seen by appointment which can be made in advance.   In all cases you will require the blood test form that your doctor gave to you so that the nurse knows what type of blood test you require.

Smoking Cessation Clinics: We have a trained counsellor at our practice who can give you support to help you give up smoking.  Please ask at reception or your GP or nurse when you have an appointment, we can arrange for you to come to the clinic.

Midwife:  Antenatal clinics are no longer held at the practice. You do not need to speak to the surgery team for a referral.  Maternity Self-Referral Form

Maternity - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire

Making Appointments

We have listened to patient feedback and have changed our appointment and telephone system in an endeavour to meet your requests.

We only operate an appointment system - we do not offer a walk-in service.  

Telephone appointments: Many conditions and queries can be dealt with quickly over the phone and can be more convenient for working patients.  Medication queries, test results and follow up appointments are often dealt with this way. The GP will telephone you either in the morning or afternoon, they only try once. However, due to the nature of general practice, we cannot guarantee the time so please be prepared to be flexible.

Appointments are released on a daily basis at 8.30am bookable via patient online access or by telephoning the practice.  These appointments are limited and can go very quickly.  We also have pre-bookable appointments for 14 days in advance. 

Urgent: Acute episodes or medical situations that you feel are urgent may be seen by the duty doctor.  In most cases the duty doctor will call you first to prioritise the sickest patients first. This is why it is important to give brief details of the problem to the receptionist. They are bound to confidentiality rules too. Due to the nature of these clinics appointment times cannot be guaranteed and you may be required to wait. Please phone as early as possible during the day.

We are not an emergency service, therefore your condition might require you to be seen elsewhere. 

What are online consultations?

What happens next? Once you submit your eConsult, it will be reviewed to determine which healthcare professional—such as a nurse, pharmacist, or doctor, or which admin team, is best suited to help you. This professional will then triage your case to ensure the most efficient and safe way to manage your issue.

GP practices receive numerous requests for assistance daily from patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals or community teams. The information you provide through eConsult helps us prioritize patients based on their needs, so it’s important to complete the form thoroughly and honestly.

Why so many questions? Most of the questions on the eConsult form are simple yes or no answers, so it shouldn’t take long to complete. The form is designed to safely gather important information. Some questions focus on ‘red flag’ symptoms that might suggest you need urgent care, such as going to the hospital, calling 999, or contacting the surgery or 111 directly. Other questions help us understand the nature and duration of your symptoms, allowing us to determine the best course of action. Every question is important, and while some may seem unnecessary, they could be crucial for your doctor’s assessment.

Please use the following links to submit a request:

Medical Requests 

Fit note request

Repeat Prescriptions

Test Results (not hospital results)

We offer routine GP and nursing appointments during the evenings and over the weekends.  These are provided by Coventry North Primary Care Network (PCN), which comprises of 8 practices. Springfield Medical Practice is one of the eight practices in the PCN providing the Extended Hours Appointments so your appointment may not be at the surgery.  These can be face to face or telephone appointments for one problem.

Locations are:

Keresley Green Medical Centre

Mosley Avenue Health Centre

The Gables Medical Centre 

This is an appointment ONLY service, available Monday to Friday between 6.30pm -8.00pm and Saturday's 9.00am - 5.00pm 

Springfield Medical Practice opening hours

We are open Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 6.30 pm

Our phone lines open at 8.30am, before this WMAS are sub-contracted to take calls.

The building is open fully during these times and reception is open.

Think about your alternative NHS options of care: Think Which Service - Happy Healthy Lives

Pharmacist First: NHS Pharmacy First Service

NHS 111 online or by calling Get help for your symptoms - NHS 111

Urgent Treatment Centres; Urgent Treatment Centres - Happy Healthy Lives 

Only use A+E or 999 in emergencies.

Pharmacy: Pharmacists are experts in medicines who can help you with minor health concerns.

You can find your nearest pharmacy here  by typing in your postcode.

As qualified healthcare professionals, pharmacists can offer clinical advice and over-the-counter medicines for a range of minor illnesses, such as coughs, colds, sore throats, tummy trouble and aches and pains.

If symptoms suggest it's something more serious, pharmacists have the right training to make sure you get the help you need. For example, they may advise you to see a member of the GP practice team.

All pharmacists train for 5 years in the use of medicines. They are also trained in managing minor illnesses and providing health and wellbeing advice.

Most pharmacies have a private consultation room where you can discuss issues with pharmacy staff without being overheard, you usually do not need to pre book an appointment for this service.

Many pharmacies have late night opening hours and some are open 7 days a week. You can check your local pharmacy opening times here  . 
 

NHS 111: can help with several concerns including getting help for symptoms or an injury, dental help, mental health help, a prescription, or medicines information, and help with an existing medical condition.

If you are ill or injured and you don’t know where to turn, make 111 your first port of call. For adults and children aged over 5, NHS 111 online  is usually quicker to get the help you need. For children aged under 5, you should call 111 by telephone.

111 operators are trained to assess and direct you to the most appropriate local service. 

Depending on what you need, you might be advised to:

• Call 999 or go to A&E in an emergency
• Go to an urgent treatment centre
• See an evening and weekend GP (out-of-hours GP)
• Book a callback from a nurse
• Get urgent specialist support, for dental or mental health problems
• Contact your own GP surgery
• See a pharmacist for help with a minor illness
• Look after yourself safely at home

There are also other ways to contact 111 if needed, for example if you have a hearing problem or need help in another language. Find out more here  .

111 online cannot issue fit notes or make or cancel appointments for you in other parts of the NHS. Also, please bear in mind that 111 might not be the most appropriate service to help with complex needs caused by an existing health condition.

Urgent Treatment Centres: (UTCs) provide urgent medical attention in situations where it is not a life-threatening emergency. They can diagnose and deal with many of the common problems people go to A&E for.

For example, if you think you may have broken a bone, often your local UTC is the best place to be seen. The range of conditions they can support with includes:

• sprains and strains
• suspected broken bones
• injuries, cuts and bruises
• stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea 
• skin infections and rashes
• high temperature in children and adults

All UTCs can be accessed on a walk-in basis or following advice from NHS 111. To find your nearest UTC, please click here  .

If you are unsure about which healthcare service you need, 111, online or over the phone, can direct you to the right service to help with your symptoms. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can book you an appointment with the appropriate service or even send an ambulance if necessary.

Emergency Department: Your local hospital’s emergency department, also known as A&E, is open 24 hours a day and is for genuine life-threatening emergencies only.

Please keep 999 and emergency departments free for genuine-life threatening emergencies. For non-life-threatening issues, contact your pharmacy, GP surgery or NHS111 (links to each of the pages).

You should dial 999 or to go to the emergency department when you experience:

• Signs of a heart attack
• Signs of a stroke
• Sudden confusion
• Severe difficulty breathing
• Choking
• Heavy bleeding
• Severe injuries
• Seizure
• Sudden, rapid swelling

When you arrive at your local emergency department, a doctor or nurse will assess your condition and decide on what further action or treatment you need, this is called triage. If you attend the emergency department and your condition is less serious, your wait time may be considerably longer.

Mental Health Support in Coventry and Warwickshire: If you feel like you are experiencing a mental health crisis, you should get help straight away by contacting NHS 111 Option 2. 

We know winter can be a challenging time of year for some people. It’s normal that your mental health may change depending on how you’re feeling and what is happening in your life, but it can also start to impact your daily activities and make life feel difficult.

It’s important to get help to prevent these feelings getting worse. We understand that seeking support is a big step, but there is a range of support available to you across Coventry and Warwickshire if you are struggling with your mental health.

If you are struggling with your mental health, then you can talk to a member of the team at your local GP practice, or use one of the services listed below:

• For self-care information, the Dimensions of Health and Wellbeing is a free online tool that uses a questionnaire to get you to reflect on how you’re feeling. Based on your responses, it makes recommendations about self-care, local services and support that may be suitable for you. You can access it here  .
• You can refer yourself to the NHS Talking Therapies service, where therapists and counsellors can provide you with proven and effective ways to help you self-manage symptoms and deal with feelings that are preventing you from living a normal life. Visit Talking Therapies  or call 024 7667 1090 during office hours to make an appointment.
• You can call the Coventry and Warwickshire Mental Wellbeing Line for connection, advice, information and signposting to other services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0800 616171.

Home Visits

Where possible, please try to request a Home Visit before 10.30am by telephoning the surgery reception on 024 7633 2628.

If you feel the problem is urgent, please make this clear to the receptionist. A doctor will telephone to discuss your circumstances. This allows the doctor to assess the necessity of a visit. All visits are made at the doctor’s discretion or completed by PAVS - Paramedic acute visiting service.

When we are closed there is emergency cover provided for our patients.  You need to dial 111 and your call will be directed to the appropriate service.

House visits are only available for patients who are bedbound because of illness or disability or terminally ill.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.

Clinical photographs

Photographs can be very useful in helping us decide how to manage a problem. We have the facility to send you a text and for you to reply and send in photographs to the Practice. The following information will enable you to provide us with useful photographs that will help in your care.

• Ideally, have someone else take the photographs for you.

• Use a phone or digital camera. If using a phone, use the camera’s main lens not the “selfie” camera. Check the camera lens is clean.

• Take the photographs where there is lots of natural light or where there is very good artificial light. Avoid using the flash unless necessary.

• Avoid shadows on the area being photographed.

• If possible, place the area to be photographed on a plain non-white background.

• Put the area of interest in the middle of the frame.

• Keep the area still whilst taking the photograph. Rest the area against something if needed. Hold the camera still as you take the photographs.

• If photographing a single skin lesion, place a coin or a ruler near the lesion to give an idea of scale.

• Photographs needed (take several and send the best of each type):

  • Orientation photographs. Stand 3 feet away from the area and take photographs from this distance to show where the problem is located. If a rash, try and include the whole area affected.

  • Close-up photographs. Move the camera to about 4-6 inches from the skin problem and take close-up photographs. Make sure the images are clear and sharply focused. This is more important than getting very close, which may result in blurred images. Blurred photographs are of little clinical value.

  • If a skin lesion is raised, try and get sideways photographs as well – to show the height of the lesion.

• Remember, only send the best photographs using the link in the text you have been sent. If you can, size the photographs you send to about 1 MB each.

• Normally, the photographs you send in will be stored in your medical records. If you DO NOT want any of the photographs saved to your medical record, please say so in your text reply.

• For additional information and examples of taking photographs, please visit this web-link: http://www.pcds.org.uk/clinical-guidance/photography-for-the-patient-how-to-take-a-good-photograph-of-a-skin-conditi

Eye emergencies

Below is the link to book a triage appointment with the acute referral service for eye emergencies:
https://www.uhcw.nhs.uk/eye-department/eye-emergency-referral-service/
They may make an appointment with a local optician/eye service, but will depend on the nature of your symptoms.
Alternatively, the phone no. is:0247 696 4800, Mon-Fri 9-5pm (closed between 1-1:30pm) and Sat 9-12pm.