Patient Information

Lingwell Croft is accredited as a Veteran Friendly Practice.

A veteran is someone who has served for at least one day in the UK Armed Forces.

If you are a veteran with health problems attributable to military service you are entitled to referrals to organisations tailored to your needs as an ex-member of the UK Armed Forces.

If you are a veteran please contact the surgery so we can make a note of this on your medical records.

Compliment / Complaints

If you have a compliment or complaint /concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the personnel working in this practice, please let us know.

We welcome feedback from good experiences as well as bad, although we realise that people generally only make comments about bad experiences. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS complaints system, which meets national criteria. Please Click Here to download the compliment / complaints form.

To Request a Repeat Prescription

Repeat prescriptions may only be given by prior arrangement with the doctor. Please allow 48 hours (i.e. 2 full working days) for the prescription to be prepared. Requests for repeat prescriptions are not taken over the telephone and cannot be ordered by the pharmacy unless under special arrangements. However you can order using SystmOne Online, by post or there is a post-box for repeat prescription requests available at the side of the front door.

Register as a Patient

We have signed up to new arrangements with NHS England from 1st April 2022, to give people greater choice when choosing a GP practice. Patients may approach our GP practice, even if they live outside the practice catchment area, to see if they will be accepted onto the patient list. The new arrangements mean that we now have the option to register patients who live outside the practice catchment area but without any obligation to provide home visits.

You can assess the required GMS1 registration form by means of:

  • Systmone patient online service in our Digital services section, or by
  • collecting a GMS1 Registration form from the practice at reception.

Once completed you can either

Please note: the only service we cannot offer to patients who do not reside in our catchment area are home visits.

If you live outside our catchment area and need a home visit you will be asked to contact NHS 111.

NHS 111 will direct you to a local service such as another GP service near to where you live.

Out of Area Registration

Out of area registration (with or without home visits) is voluntary for GP practices meaning patients may be refused because they live out of area.

If your application is considered and accepted, we will only register you without home visits if it is clinically appropriate and practical in your individual case.

To do this we may:

  • Ask you or the practice you are currently registered with questions about your health to help decide whether to register you in this way
  • Ask you questions about why it is practical for you to attend this practice (for example, how many days during the week you would normally be able to attend)

If accepted, you will attend our practice and receive the full range of services provided as normal at the surgery.  However, should you have an urgent care need, and the surgery cannot help you at home, we may ask you to call NHS 111 and they will put you in touch with a local service (this may be a face-to-face appointment with a local healthcare professional or a home visit where necessary).

If you live just outside the practice catchment area, we may decide that it is not in your best interest or practical for you to be registered in this way, as a result, we may accept your registration with home visits. If accepted but your health needs change, we may review your registration to see if it would be more appropriate for you to be registered with a GP practice closer to your home.

We may also decline your registration and advise you to seek to register (or remain registered) with a more local practice to your home address.

This new arrangement only applies to GP practices and patients who live in England.

For further information visit the NHS Choices website (www.nhs.uk)

For further information visit the NHS Choices website (www.nhs.uk)

PATCHs

We can be contacted through PATCHs for:

  • Admin queries such as sick notes, online access, medication queries, hospital appointments or a previously prescribed medication.
  • Skin conditions and rashes
  • Thrush/bacterial vaginosis
  • Urinary tract infections/cystitis
  • Muscle or joint problems

Just click on the link within our Digital Services

Patient Participation Group

Whilst we strive to offer the best service possible to our patients, we believe that the only people who can really judge whether we’re doing a good job or not are the people who use our services!

We conduct annual surveys to obtain patient’s views, but to get a better feel of where we could improve, we need your input.

How to Get a Sick Note

Sickness of less than seven days

If you’re off work sick for seven days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill, however your employer can ask you to confirm that you’ve been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work.

This is called self-certification.  Self-certification forms usually include details such as:

 

  • Information about your sickness or illness.
  • The date your sickness started.
  • The date your sickness ended.

 

These dates may be days that you don’t normally work. For example, your sickness could start or end on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday.

Many employers have their own self-certification forms. If your employer doesn’t have its own form, it may use an SC2 form ‘Employee’s Statement of Sickness’ from HM Revenue & Customs instead:

Employee’s statement of sickness to claim Statutory Sick Pay – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Sickness of more than seven days

If you’re sick and off work for more than seven days, your employer will probably ask for proof of your illness. Most employers ask for a fit note from your GP.

Fit notes may also be called medical statements or a doctor’s note.  However, this will also depend on your employer’s company policy on sick leave (or sickness absence). This policy should tell you how many days you can be off sick before you need to provide proof of illness or a fit note.

 

Please note: The seven days includes days that you don’t normally work. When working out how long you’ve been off work sick, you should include weekends and bank holidays.

Private Forms and Letters

The doctor is able to sign and complete claims and forms on your behalf. However, this may have a charge associated with it.

The reception team know the costs involved, so you can ask them or phone us.

Many of these charges can often be claimed back from your insurance company or employer.

Examples of these forms are:

  • Private Sick Notes
  • Holiday Cancellation
  • Private Letters
  • Insurance Claims
  • Sickness / Accident Insurance Benefit Claims
  • Driving License Photographs
  • Freedom from Infection

Please leave these forms with the receptionist, who will pass them on to the doctor

NB: We are no longer able to complete Passport forms. All forms submitted will be sent straight back.

Please see our fees document for details on costs

New Baby, New Family!

A quick guide to provide information and detail support