Worried about Group A Strep?
Please follow this link for up-to-date official HNS guidance: Healthier Together | Worried about group A Strep? (nenc-healthiertogether.nhs.uk)
Appointment System
- We offer a range of routine patient pre-bookable appointments for non-urgent problems.
- If all of the near-future pre-bookable appointments have been taken and there are none left within a suitable time-frame to deal with your problem, then we will definitely find a solution for you. If necessary we will fit your request into the "Urgent" system as below. We do not operate a "call back tomorrow" policy.
- All "Urgent" requests will be dealt with initially over the telephone by a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner, discussing the problem with the patient/caller the same day.
- The reception staff will take details from the patient (contact telephone number and brief description of the problem if possible) to enable the clinical team to prioritise the order of calls.
- The request will be added to a telephone list and a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner will ring back as soon as possible.
- The Doctor or Nurse Practitioner will book face to face appointments where it is agreed that an appointment is necessary, normally for the same day, unless the problem can be resolved over the phone.
- Patients can still book pre-bookable Doctor and Nurse Practitioner appointments for up to six weeks in advance. They can do this by telephoning Reception, or via the internet/ NHS App.
- Nurse and Health Care Assistant appointments are unaffected by the new system described here.
Telephone triage of non-routine requests makes access to appointments quicker, fairer and safer by involving clinicians directly. It enables the Doctors and Nurse Practitioners to understand the problem and ensure that patients who need to be seen quickly get an appropriate appointment.
Extended Hours Access
We are part of Chester le Street Primary Care Network (PCN) and offer our own pre-booked appointments on Thursday nights and some others at other times through the PCN. If you need an appointment out of normal hours, the Receptionist can check what is available for you at the time of booking. Thank you.
"Out of Area" Patients
From January 2015 practices have been allowed to register patients who live outside the practice boundaries. Any such registrations are at the discretion of the practice, taking into account the feasibility of being able to provide good GP services "at a distance". This varies between patients and depends on medical and geographical considerations. Special registration requests and unusual circumstances patients may apply even if not covered by the guidelines detailed here. Such registration requests will be considered by a senior doctor and the practice manager on a case by case basis. It is vitally important that all parties are clear who will be responsible for home visits and emergency care. If an application is successful, the patient is registered as an "out of area" patient on the understanding that they will not be able to receive home visits from Cestria, they must attend the surgery in person for all ordinary needs which cannot be sorted out by phone. If an "out of area" patient does need urgent attention close to home, or a home visit, this will be arranged via the NHS phone service 111. For details of the NHS regulations governing this system, please contact reception. Thank you.
Government Coronavirus Data Extraction
The UK Government are extracting data from all GP systems regarding patient's coronavirus status. Cestria is required by law by the Government to comply with this data extraction. For more information, please click HERE.
GP Average Earnings
All Practices are now required to publish this information. The average pay for GPs working in Cestria Health Centre in the last financial year was £75,312 before tax and national insurance deductions. This is for 4 full time GPs and 7 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months. The figures were prepared for us in accordance with Government rules by our accountants Robson Laidler.