Please do not book an appointment in order to request medication.
Book Your Appointment Online:
- a simple and secure way to access you appointments
- search for appointments, book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery, and see details of your upcoming and past appointments.
- you can check or cancel appointments with a GP, nurse or other healthcare professional
- you will get help faster
Non-urgent advice: Patient Notice
GP appointments: Our appointment booking system has a rollover of 5 weeks to enable you to book appointments up to 5 weeks in advance for routine matters. There is a combination of face to face and telephone appointment slots to see a GP. Face to face will be the time you booked, a telephone call will be between 8.30am and 12 noon, afternoon appointments are between 2.00pm and 6.00pm.
Blood test appointments: Please note these are for GP requested blood tests ONLY or if you have been sent a link by the practice team. Appointment’s booked not at the request of the practice or GP will be cancelled.
CORONAVIRUS: If you have been in contact with a known or suspected case please do not attend the surgery. If you have cough and cold symptoms we would encourage you to self-manage at home, for more information see the NHS website.
Non-urgent advice: Appointments System
At each of the three Health Centres, the Practice offers pre-bookable appointments (which can be booked up to 5 weeks in advance) as well as a number of ‘book on the day’ appointments for urgent medical problems.
A trained receptionist will take your call and gather as much information from you as possible to pass on to the GP. During this process they may suggest an alternative route for you to a faster, more appropriate clinician such as using NHS 111, a pharmacist or a urgent treatment centre.
Appointments with the Practice are available as either face to face or as a telephone appointment.
Where possible we will try and book your appointment with your ‘usual doctor’ unless he or she is not available, when you will be offered an appointment with another doctor at the Practice (this may be a locum if a doctor is on leave). All of the doctors at each of the Health Centres will be able to deal with any of your problems as they will have full access to your medical records.
Please bear in mind that for telephone appointments in the morning the doctor will call anytime between (08:30-12:00) or the afternoon, (14:00-18:00).
Non-urgent advice: Please Note
Please remember when booking appointments that we have three surgeries and the doctors normally work at each of the sites as follows:
Hurstpierpoint
Dr Cook; Dr Wilson; Dr Thomson; Dr Standen; Dr Udeen
Hassocks
Dr Purwar; Dr Lewis; Dr Lynch; Dr Seyoum; Dr Darbyshire
Ditchling
Dr Winn; Dr Konrad
In order to provide a better service to our patients and improve your options, if an appointment is not available with the doctor of your choice, you may be offered an appointment with a doctor at any of our three surgeries.
Appointments with the doctors are for 10 minutes. We are happy to deal with more than one problem in this session but may ask you to book another appointment if more time is required. If you know that you have multiple or complex issues to discuss, please request a double appointment at the time of booking.
Please make separate appointments if more than one member of the family needs to be seen.
Non-urgent advice: Cancel an Appointment
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).
If you no longer need your appointment, please call our cancellation line on 01273 837981.
Non-urgent advice: Out of Hours
111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.
NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
In case of a life-threatening emergency, please dial 999.
Emergency Appointments
The Practice holds a number of “same day” appointments for emergencies. If you feel your condition requires urgent medical attention on that day, you will be offered a telephone appointment with one of the doctors. The doctor may be able to advise over the telephone, or if he/she feels it is necessary, you will be asked to attend the surgery.
If an emergency appointment is necessary, this will be arranged with the first available doctor. Please note that emergency appointments are not placed with your usual doctor. If you are not happy to see anyone other than your usual GP, you may have to wait to be seen.
We respectfully ask that you only contact the practice for a same day emergency appointment if there is an urgent medical need.
Routine Appointments
We provide routine appointments which can be booked up to 5 weeks ahead, we request that where possible, you book your routine follow up appointment in a timely manner as many of our patients to take advantage of the 5 week booking window. We would therefore always advise booking your routine appointment at least three weeks ahead of the week you require.
Routine appointments for medication checks, HRT checks and ongoing conditions can often be managed as a telephone appointment. Please bear this in mind when booking your appointment.
If you require a face to face examination i.e. blood pressure check or physical examination, this should be booked as a face to face appointment. Please do not arrive early for your appointment as we are still trying to manage the number of patients within the Practice at any one time. You may be asked to wait outside until your appointment time or a patient leaves the building.
All patients will be asked Covid screening questions when booking a face to face appointment i.e. do you have a temperature, a new persistent cough, have you lost your sense of taste or smell. Have you been in contact with someone in the last ten days who has a positive Covid test. You will be asked these again on arriving at the practice.
IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS, PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE PRACTICE BUT INFORM US SO THAT WE CAN CHANGE YOUR APPOINTMENT TO A TELEPHONE APPOINTMENT.
Telephone Appointments
The doctors and nurses are happy to provide advice over the telephone for problems which do not require a face to face examination or a home visit. It is helpful to let the receptionist know the reason for your appointment request. The receptionist will ask for a contact telephone number where the doctor can ring you back when available. Please note that reception staff are, for the most part, not medically qualified and are unable to give you medical advice. Please do not phone before 8.30am or after 6.00pm if your call is not urgent.
Evening and Weekend Access to GP Appointments
Mid Sussex Health Care co-hosts the Burgess Hill hub with The Brow Practice in Burgess Hill, which provides GP and some types of Nurse appointments:
Monday through Friday between 18:30 – 20:00. We operate a remote telephone appointment service. Should you need to be seen, you will be asked to either attend Hassocks on a Thursday evening or The Brow on a Tuesday.
Saturday clinics are alternated between Hurstpierpoint and The Brow. These clinics are available for GP appointments and Nurse lead smear, chronic disease management and dressing clinics.
To book an appointment, talk to your GP Practice, appointments are available up to 5 days in advance.
Clinicians working at the hubs will be able to access your medical records with your agreement. You will be asked before any information is shared and can decline if you wish.
Please note that this service is for pre-booked appointments only, it is not a walk-in service.
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. Your GP 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.
Interpreter
If you require an interpreter to attend with you when you see your Doctor please notify the receptionist at the time of booking your appointment and she will arrange this for you.
Text Reminder Service
We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.
To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.