General Health Enquiries

Online Triage Access: 

Triage services are available Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

• For urgent requests, please ring reception

If you need help while we're closed, here’s what you can do:

• For medical advice, contact 111 or visit your nearest walk-in centre.
• For life-threatening emergencies, call 999 immediately.

Your health is important to us, even when our facility is temporarily closed. Stay safe and take care!

Why Online Triage?

GP practices are under increasing pressure to provide patients with the right medical advice as quickly as possible. 

In a traditional appointment system, there are a limited number of urgent same-day appointments, a few phone consultations, and routine appointments with a waiting time of 2-3 weeks. This often leads to delays for issues that need prompt attention and can result in some patients not receiving the care they need.

At Lambgates Health Centre, we are committed to continuously improving our service. While the majority of our patients appreciate our same-day telephone consultations, we understand that some would prefer alternative options. To meet the growing demands and needs of our patients while using our resources effectively, we must adapt the way we deliver care and explore new methods to support our community.

Our goal is to challenge the current system and offer a more efficient service by enabling patients to contact us digitally.

What is Online Triage?

Online Triage is an evidence-based platform that allows patients to easily request medical advice from their GP by completing an online consultation. During the process, patients may receive self-care advice or be directed to other services that best suit their symptoms. For instance, they might be referred to a pharmacy for minor issues or emergency services for more serious concerns. Patients can use Online Triage to seek advice on existing conditions (such as heart disease) or new health concerns.

If the GP determines a face-to-face appointment is necessary, the patient will be contacted within 48 hours and offered a same-day appointment. In many cases (around 65%), the GP can address the patient's query remotely or via a phone consultation within 48 hours of submitting the online consult.

What are the benefits to patients?

Patients will:

• Not have to wait in a long telephone queue to request an appointment at 8am
• Patients can send an online consult at a time convenient to them and not have to wait until the surgery is open
• Capture illness sooner – no waiting days for an appointment to get an important diagnosis
• Receive medical advice 24/7 via online consult self help online services
• Patients have their symptoms remotely assessed by their own family GP and contact within 48 hours potentially without the need to visit the surgery in person
• Patients wont necessarily have to take time off work or use holiday entitlement for the sake of a 15 minute GP consultation

We are confident that online triage will significantly improve patient experience at
Lambgates Health Centre. Online triage is used by over 6 million people throughout the UK
and has demonstrated high patient satisfaction and excellent outcomes.

We hope you will join us in supporting this significant service improvement that we know will
greatly benefit our patient population and give them access to their GP when they need it
most.

Those patients who cannot do online forms because of difficulty with English, with reading
or writing, or with using online forms (on their phone or computer) can contact reception for
assistance, and will be supported to complete the forms.

Online systems are not suitable for emergencies or the most urgent problems: in an emergency call 999, for an urgent problem call 111 or call the surgery.

We are always looking to improve our servives,  we would welcome any comments and feedback regarding online consult and further service improvements.

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