You can still see your GP but to protect all of us, we have decided to see patients using a wide range of other methods. All the local GPs are working in a similar way. Face to face appointments are only happening in exceptional circumstances. Online appointment bookings have now stopped.

How can I get medical help?

Generally, there are four types of appointment and ways to get help. The first type of appointment is the one that most people will be familiar with:

• Face to face appointment- this is only made in exceptional circumstances. Please do not attend the surgery if you are ill with any symptoms suggestive of coronavirus. Only attend the surgery if you have been contacted and told to come in otherwise you will not be seen.

The other types of appointment may be less familiar to most people. They are new ways of working but they offer increased flexibility and most importantly they allow for medical care to still happen when everyone is social distancing.

• Video consultation- this is a useful alternative to a face to face appointment. It allows you to see the health care professional and he/she can see you. It is particularly useful when an examination may be required such as to look at a rash and observe a sick child. You can request this when making your appointment if you think it is needed for your problem. Alternatively, the health care professional may ask to see you in this way to better understand your problem and help them with your management. The video is totally secure and you will receive a text message which contains a link to the video that you need to click on. The consultation takes place through your phone and the health care professionals phone using the camera.
• Telephone consultation- this is familiar to most people, but we are now using this more and more to maintain social distance. Almost any medical problem can be discussed by phone. It allows a conversation to happen flexibly and keeps you safe. We are using these to discuss many different medical problems with people including both mental health and physical health.
• E-consultation- this is a relatively new addition. You can use an e-consult for almost any medical problem and it is particularly useful for administrative problems like letters and sick notes. It allows for much quicker response from us and the tool we have will ask you some basic questions to try and support you. If you have a clinical problem, the e-consult will ask medical questions so please answer them as best you can. This is then sent to the GP who looks at your answers. We can either reply directly back to you, send a prescription for you or arrange to speak to you if we need more information.

It is important to note that nursing appointments are still available. The same tight regulation occurs and we ask you all to be diligent and inform us if you have or suspect you have coronavirus before attending your appointment. The nurse is still seeing people for routine immunisations, injections and dressings.