Who Should I see?

Do I need to see a GP?

How Our Triage System Works

Our phone lines open every morning at 8.30am. Our care navigators will answer your calls and direct your call to the most appropriate service. A lot of requests for GP calls can be dealt with by other members of our team including pharmacists, phlebotomists and nurses.

The capacity message will play when our GPs have received a safe number of calls for the day. This number will vary day to day depending on the number of GPs available that day. Our phone lines hold 25 calls so if you are hearing the capacity message there may be 25 calls already in the queue.

We always have an emergency list for those calls that cannot wait until the next day.

Prescription queries, vaccine appointments, treatment room appointments, test results and any other questions can be dealt with after triage is over. The lines will be less busy at this time and you will have a shorter wait time.

Our Practice Care Navigators will ask for more information:

We at Tramways Medical Centre as a practice have trained care navigators who are trained to ask you a series of questions. These questions are designed to ensure you receive:

  • The most appropriate medical care.
  • From the most appropriate health professional.
  • At the most appropriate time.

Care Navigators are asked to collect brief information from patients:

  1. To help doctors prioritise phone calls, appointments and home visits.
  2. To ensure that all patients receive the appropriate level of care
  3. To direct patients to see the other healthcare professionals when appropriate.

Care Navigators are bound by confidentiality rules:

  • Any information given by you is treated strictly confidentially.
  • The Practice would take any breach of confidentiality very seriously and deal with accordingly.
  • You can ask to speak to a care navigator in private away from reception if needed.

Did you know that nearly 20% of all doctors’ appointments in the UK can be dealt with by an alternative health care professional?