How to get an appointment

Listed below are the ways you can get an appointment at your GP practice in Bromley.

1. Complete an online consultation request

For those with online access, this is often the quickest method of contacting your GP practice to request an appointment. Navigate to your GP practice website and click on ‘Contact Us online’.

This will take you to online form where you will be prompted to answer a series of short questions relating to your query. Your submitted request will be assessed and you will receive a response from your GP practice advising next steps.

• Use the NHS App

Guidance on how to use the NHS App to make an appointment with your GP practice can be found here.

• Call your GP practice

Depending on the individual GP practice, you can call your GP practice and follow the prompts on the automated messages to speak to a member of the reception team who will either offer an appointment according to availability, or may offer to complete an online triage form on your behalf.

• Go to the reception desk

You can speak to a member of the reception team by visiting the GP practice during opening hours, 8am – 6.30pm.

What is Modern General Practice?

In 2023, NHS England made clear the expectation for GP practices to move towards the ‘Modern General Practice’ model of working, with the aim of improving capacity to meet increasing demand, improve patient experience and improve the working environment for general practice staff.

GP practices in Bromley have worked hard to meet the requirements of Modern General Practice, including the following:

• Ensuring all practices have cloud telephony to replace their old analogue systems, thus improving patient experience when calling their GP practice.  Call queueing ensures patients know where they are positioned in the telephone queue, and a call back service which means that patients can request a callback when they have reached the front of the queue, thus leaving them free to get on with other more productive tasks or to rest if they are feeling unwell.
• Offering patients access to their GP practice via online consultation, a convenient and secure way to digitally contact your GP practice and get advice without having to wait on the phone or take time out to come into the surgery.

• Using care navigation to assess and prioritise need safely and fairly, and to efficiently get patients to the right healthcare professional or service, in the appropriate time frame (including consideration of continuity of care) moving away from a ‘first come first served approach’.
• better allocating existing capacity to need, making full use of a multi-professional primary care team, community services and ‘self access’ options where appropriate.
• building capability in general practice teams to work together and to access, understand and use data and digital tools to improve healthcare for patients.

Patient Self-Referral Services

There are numerous health care services that patients in Bromley can self-refer to without the need for an appointment with your GP. You can register for most of them online. In some cases, you refer yourself by phoning rather than emailing or by completing an online form.

If you can’t find the information you need, try searching the NHS website (The NHS website – NHS (www.nhs.uk)) or contact your GP practice.

Think Pharmacy First

Pharmacists can offer advice on a range of illnesses, such as coughs, colds, sore throats, ear infections and aches and pains. They can also give advice about medicines. This includes how to use your medicine, worries about side effects or any other questions you have.

Pharmacists can suggest treatments that do not need a prescription for a range of conditions.

Most pharmacies can also offer prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP or make an appointment. This is called Pharmacy First. Conditions they can offer prescription medicine for are listed below:

Clinical Pathway	Age Range
Acute Otitis Media*	1 to 17 years
Impetigo	1 year and over
Infected Insect Bites	1 year and over
Shingles	18 years and over
Sinusitis	12 years and over
Sore Throat	5 years and over
Uncomplicated Urinary Tract infections	Women 16 – 64 years