Appointments
Routine appointments
The easiest way to book a routine appointment is by requesting it online using PATCHS. Our triage team will arrange the most suitable appointment or direct you to a more appropriate service. If you would like to know more about this service please click here.
If the PATCHS service isn’t available or doesn’t suit your needs, please call 0151 644 0055 between 8am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Have you considered self care?
Many things get better by themselves, or with simple measures. If you need help with self-managing your problem, we recommend the NHS website.
Checking in for your appointments
- Confirm the site you are attending – you should be informed when making your appointment.
- Ensure you arrive on time for your appointment.
- Use our check-in screen, this will advise you of the Clinician, Room and approximate running time of the clinic.
- If you are unable to use the check-in screen, or have arrived after your appointment time then please inform reception.
- Take a seat in our waiting areas and wait for your name on the call-in screens.
If you require any additional support when attending your appointment, please notify our Health Navigators who will make sure that you have the assistance you require.
Chaperone
At Sunlight Group Practice, we want to make sure everyone feels safe and comfortable. We follow the best practices to keep patients and staff safe.
You can always have someone with you, like a family member or friend, during your appointment. Sometimes, a special chaperone might be needed.
If you want a chaperone, please let us know when you book your appointment, so we can plan ahead. The doctor or nurse might also ask for a chaperone during some visits.
All our chaperones are trained to help and know what to do.
If you’d like a chaperone, just tell our team, and we will arrange it for you.
Urgent Appointments
If your problem is medically urgent, please contact the surgery as soon as possible on 0151 644 0055. Once you have been assessed, you will be offered the most appropriate care, this may be an appointment with a clinician from our Additional Capacity Team, based at one of our local practices.
If you have medical problem that is life threatening, you should contact 999.
Cancelling your appointment
It is incredibly important that appointments don’t go to waste. If you have an appointment and cannot attend or wish to cancel, please let us know as soon as you can so that we can offer it to someone who needs it.
Continuous failure to attend appointments will result in you not being able to book any appointments in advance.
Request an appointment online
Why request an appointment online?
- You can fill the request in before the phone lines have opened so if you are not able to phone when we start taking calls, you can still make sure that your health is being prioritised.
- You don’t have to wait for one of our Health Navigators to be available, this also allows them to spend time speaking to those that need additional assistance.
- If you would rather not discuss your health issues over the phone, this system allows you to provide detail without the possibility of others overhearing.
- If you have additional communication needs, PATCHS allows you to answer the required questions needed to make sure that you are seen by the right person at the right time.
What Happens when I have submitted my appointment request?
All requests are reviewed by our triage team and will be dealt with in order of clinical priority. We aim to respond within 2 working days.
Extended Access
We have services available to those who can’t attend the surgery during our usual hours. If you specify this when completing your PATCHS or speaking to our Health Navigators, you will be offered other options that will hopefully suit your appointment needs.
These appointments will be telephone consultations or face to face appointments, the face to face appointments may not be at your usual practice but they will be able to provide you with the same level of care and treatment.
Home Visits
Home visits are for patients that are physically unable to attend the surgery.
If you do need a home visit, please try calling before 11:00am to allow our clinician to make arrangements as needed.
A doctor or nurse will call you to arrange a visit, consult over the telephone, or arrange hospital attendance, should that be necessary.
Please remember that several patients can be seen at the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients.
Home visits may be done by clinicians from the Acute Care Team (ACT) who are members of our primary care trust (Healthier South Wirral).
