Ashville Medical Practice Appointment System Explained

Requests for Appointments

Our receptionists have been trained as Care Navigators and will ask you a few simple questions about your symptoms or condition to ensure you are signposted to the most appropriate service and clinician. You may not always need to see a doctor or clinician when you call, therefore we would appreciate your help so we can help you in the most appropriate and best way forward. If you do need to speak with a doctor, the doctor will call you back during the course of the morning or afternoon and perform triage. The doctor will then decide on the next appropriate course of action as not all patients will need to be treated in surgery.

Any requests for home visits will be placed on a list where a doctor will telephone your first and perform and perform triage. 

Please note: You will not be given a specific time for telephone triage.

You may request to speak with a particular doctor; We will accommodate this the best we can, however it may not always be possible to fulfil these requests due to the availability of the doctor.

The above does not apply to booking appointments with the Practice Nurses or Healthcare Assistants. Appointments with the Practice Nurses/Healthcare Assistants can be booked up to 1 month in advance.

Some appointments can be made online, without the need to call the surgery. You can book directly into a clinic using your SystmOnline account. 

If you would like to register for SystmOnline you can sign up here: Please click here for more information.

i-HEART Barnsley 365 is designed to help patients access same day appointments during the evening and weekends. The service has created additional appointments enabling patients to receive medical advice outside of standard GP surgery opening times.

i-Heart Extended Hours appointments can only be booked by calling 01226 242419

Our phone lines are open from 16:00 – 18:00 on Monday to Friday and from 08:00 – 09:30 on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays.

Appointments are available at Woodlands Drive GP Surgery, Chapelfield Medical Centre and Oaks Park Primary Care Centre.

Appointments are available at the following times: 18:30 – 22:30 Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00 Saturday & 10:00 - 14.00, Sunday and Bank Holidays.

Please note that appointments cannot be booked by going directly to these surgeries or Oaks Park Primary Care Centre.

Contact i-HEART Barnsley 365 on Tel: 01226 242419. Outside of the hours, please call NHS 111.

Our doctors typically see four patients in the practice in the time it takes to do a single home visit.

For this reason we ask our patients to come to surgery.

Home visits are for housebound patients who are too ill or immobile to come to the surgery. A home visit is not always the most appropriate course of action and if patients are able to come to the surgery, this is the safest place for them to be reviewed. The surgery has relevant equipment, medications and additional staff members if required, therefore it is more appropriate to assess and treat a patient in the surgery rather than at home if possible.

If you require a home visit please telephone before 10:30, the receptionist will ask you to describe your symptoms as this will assist the doctor in establishing whether a home visit is necessary and to establish the urgency of your call. All home visit requests will be triaged by a doctor first.

Please note: Not having transport or childcare is not a valid reason for a home visit.

If you cannot attend your appointment for any reason, please let us know as soon as possible, giving at least 24 hours notice when possible. We can then offer the appointment to someone else.

The practice has implemented a Did Not Attend Policy (DNA) click here to download it.

Please note: If you cancel with less than 1 hour before your appointment time, this will be marked as a 'Did Not Attend'

You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can also text to cancel your appointment.

If a GP or another member of our health care team believes you need hospital treatment or specialist care elsewhere, they will ask you where and when you would like to go. You can have a choice of where you go for your care. They can then book your appointment electronically while you wait.

If you would prefer to have some time to think before deciding where and when to have treatment, we can print you a request form. This form provides you with the information you need to book your own appointment, or if you have access to the internet you can book your appointment online.

Click here to visit the NHS e-Referral website page.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

Complete our SMS Reminder Form

If you're planning to travel outside the UK you may need to be vaccinated against some of the serious diseases found in other parts of the world.

View the NHS Travel Vaccination Advice

Ashville Medical Practice is a training practice and we train doctors to be General Practitioners. These trainee GPs are called “Registrars” and are fully qualified doctors who have done at least 1 year hospital medicine before joining us. They have to do at least three years of “Vocational Training” and usually join us at the beginning, or the end of their post, for either 6 or 12 months.

The whole of the practice is involved in training and occasionally we also have medical students, nurses and doctors observing in the first couple of years of qualifications (F1/F2). If you do not wish to have a third person in the consultation please let the receptionist or GP know – it will not prejudice your consultation.

We feel at Ashville we all benefit greatly from having training status at the practice. In order to maintain this status we have to undergo an approval assessment on a regular basis. The Yorkshire and Humber Deanery oversees the process of re-approval and this ensures our clinical and teaching practice is peer reviewed and up to date. Aspects of the approval include record keeping, probity and management inspections. 

The trainer currently responsible for the Registrars is Dr Ainsworth. The registrars see fewer patients than the partners and if they have any issues or problems they will ask the doctor in charge for help – this is normal practice. The Registrars are fully debriefed at the end of a session and any concerns addressed.

The Registrar training involves video consultations with patients who are happy to consent to be involved in the process. This is to record the competence of the doctor and not to view the patient illness. These videos are viewed with the trainer in charge and used for teaching purposes. If you do not wish to participate in video consultations you may decline and it has no impact on your treatment or management. Your consent can also be withdrawn after the video consultation if you are unhappy with the content.

The registrars are required to distribute a patient survey whilst in practice. If you are asked to complete a survey please give honest and constructive feedback, to aid the doctor, and highlight any strengths and development areas you perceive in their handling of your consultation.