At Barton House we are committed to providing excellent care to all our patients. We are dedicated to ensuring fair access to everyone and delivering care in a timely way, whilst making the safety of our patients and staff our upmost priority. We are working according to guidance from NHS England and Improvement as to how we provide our care safely as we move through the Covid pandemic.

We continue to operate a telephone triage system at the practice. This means that your first contact with a GP will be via a telephone appointment. If you and your GP decide that the consultation needs to be continued by sending photos, using video or in person, this will then be arranged for you by your doctor. If you need to be seen in person the doctor will arrange an appointment for you on the same day to come in. In person appointments with our nurses and health care assistants can be booked directly via reception.

Our practice doors are, and have always been, open. We ask that all patients who visit the practice wear a mask and use hand sanitiser on arrival. If you have been invited to attend for a face to face appointment please do let the doctor know if you are experiencing any symptoms of, or have tested positive for, Covid-19. We can still see you at the practice in this case if necessary, but we will take extra precautions to protect our staff and other patients. Staff will continue to wear appropriate PPE including FFP3 masks during in person appointments. We will continue to ensure our waiting room is arranged to enable social distancing. These measures will continue even as measures are relaxed elsewhere. We have taken this decision in line with current NHS guidance and to protect those coming to the surgery who may be sick, vulnerable or who may be unvaccinated due to medical reasons.

There are three ways in which you may book a GP appointment; online, via our automated phone system or via reception. Please see the appointments page for more information about these options. When booking your appointment our receptionists will ask you to describe the reason for your call and may suggest an alternative clinician or service that is better able to help you; for example our physiotherapist, pharmacist or eye service.

We thank our patients for all their support and understanding during the pandemic and are proud to provide care to our community and their families.