Our Appointment System
Please call at the reception or telephone during office hours only.
ROUTINE appointments or queries about results, please avoid telephoning between 08:30 and 11:30. It is usually much easier to telephone the surgery after 11.30a.m.
URGENT ON THE DAY appointments please telephone the surgery from 8.30am. When you call we will ask you what you need help with. We will use this information to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.
We are now fortunate to have a nurse practitioner who can see many conditions previously only seen by the doctors. So that they can direct you to the most appropriate clinician the receptionists will be asking you for details about why you want to be seen.
If you need help with your appointment please tell us:
If you would prefer to consult with the doctor by telephone or face-to-face.
If you need an interpreter
If you have any other access or communication needs
Telephone Advice
The doctors and nurses are happy to give advice over the telephone for problems which do not require an appointment or visit. It is helpful to let the receptionist know your details. The receptionist will ask for a contact telephone number where the doctor can ring you back when available.
Please note that reception staff are not medically qualified and are unable to give you medical advice.
Please do not phone before 08:30 or after 18:00 if your call is not urgent. If the doctor is unavailable you will be asked to leave a message. If your call is of an urgent nature your call will be passed to a doctor. Calls may be recorded for training purposes.
Non-urgent advice: Cancel an Appointment
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.
Call the practice to cancel your appointment:
01403 864204
Or use SystmOnline to cancel an appointment online.
Dental Services
GP services are not equipped to deal with dental problems. If you are registered with a dentist, please contact the service for advice. If you do not have a dentist, please contact NHS 111 by dialling 111 for further advice and information on services available in your area.
For emergency dental issues, please contact your dentist or follow the link: Emergency Dental Service Sussex
Evening & Weekend GP Appointments
A new weekend and evening GP service has been commissioned through Alliance for Better Care (ABC) to provide additional access to primary care services.
New GP Hubs will be operating in Mid Sussex which will offer pre-bookable GP appointments for patients registered with a practice in Mid Sussex.
Weekday evening appointments are being offered from Dolphins Practice in Haywards Heath and from Cuckfield Practice. Saturday appointments are available in Burgess Hill.
You can book an appointment by contacting Cowfold Surgery in the normal way during our opening hours.
GPs working at the Hubs will be able to access your medical records.
In order to book an appointment you will need to give your agreement to this at the time of booking.
Home Visits
Most patients who need to consult a GP will be seen at the surgery but we continue to make a limited number of home visits when this is appropriate. Home visits are reserved for the following groups of patients:
Terminally ill, Housebound patients (any patient who is able to leave home for any reason is not considered to be housebound), and severely ill patients who cannot be mobilised.
In order to optimise quality of care, effectively use finite resources and to benefit the greatest number of patients, home visits are to be offered exceptionally and not routinely. The introduction of the current GP contract in 2004 reaffirmed that it is the doctor’s decision whether or not the patient can reasonably be expected to attend the surgery.
We want to offer the shortest waiting times for our patients to see a doctor so please bear in mind that 4 to 6 patients can typically be seen by a doctor at the surgery in the time it takes to complete a single home visit. Throughout the development of this policy the quality of medical care offered by the GPs to our patients has been of paramount importance. The emphasis is that clinical effectiveness must take precedence over patient convenience.
Requesting a Home Visit
Requests for visits must normally be made before 10.00am. Visiting will normally take place after morning surgery. Please only request home visits if you are incapable of attending the surgery. Whenever possible, we expect patients to come into the surgery as the facilities are far better for examination and treatment. When you call to request a visit please give the reception team information about your symptoms as it helps us to judge the urgency of your condition. Receptionists are trained to do this and all information is treated confidentially. Please also provide a contact number as your visit request will be triaged by a doctor who may wish to call to gather more information in order to get you the care that you need. The doctor will make the assessment and might then arrange a visit, direct your care to a more appropriate care provider, arrange a surgery appointment or conduct a telephone consultation. Visits requested later in the day that are for housebound patients but are not urgent will not be seen that day but instead triaged to a more appropriate time. As long as the GP has made this assessment and offered an appropriate alternative, then the partners of Cowfold Medical Group will support any such decision made by a doctor working at the practice.
Late For Your Appointment
Please attend your appointment on time, if you are late you may not be seen. If you are not seen you will not be able to rearrange your appointment until the next working day-except in the event of an medical emergency that requires immediate attention.
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.
Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.