Urgent/Same Day Care

Urgent Care

When you contact us (using the prioryCARE form, by phone or speaking to a receptionist) you will be asked to answer a series of questions, it is important you respond as accurately as possible as this is how urgency is assigned by the Klinik triage tool. New problems are allocated as either URGENT or ROUTINE. Requests deemed urgent will be managed by our clinical team within 1 working day - you might receive a call, text (SMS) or be asked to attend in person depending on your clinical symptoms.

If you need to come in for a face to face appointment, we try to keep this at your local site. Sometimes these slots are already filled and you might be asked to attend a nearby site or our Urgent Care clinics based at Heworth Green and Cornlands Rd surgeries.

Pharmacy First

Pharmacy First is a national NHS service, started in January 2024, to help patients quickly access treatments for seven common minor illnesses. For patients with symptoms of these conditions, we may signpost you to your local pharmacy or arrange a Pharmacy First appointment with your nominated pharmacy. Conditions they can offer prescription medicine for are:

• impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
• infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
• earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
• sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
• sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)
• urinary tract infections (UTIs) (women aged 16 to 64 years)
• shingles (aged 18 years and over)

If you are not within these age ranges, a pharmacist can still offer advice and support decisions about self care treatment with over the counter medicines, but you may need to see a GP for treatment. You can read more about Pharmacy First and how your pharmacy can help you on the NHS website here.

High Demand

We have experienced high demand for same day/urgent appointments in the last few weeks. It is important that each GP is able to assess and see see a safe number of patients (recommended number is 25 per day). This helps prevent burnout and ensures high quality safe care. Some GPs see more than double this number, which is not safe.  It is important to us to look after our staff and ensure they have time and capacity to look after patients without feeling rushed or under pressure.

We know that it can be really frustrating when you cannot get an appointment when you want or need it. When we reach an unsafe level of cases we will sometimes have to signpost patients with an urgent problem to other services such as NHS111, physiotherapy or community pharmacy. 

We want to prioritise seeing the most in need and will do what we can to ensure we triage and prioritise the most unwell or most at risk/vulnerable.

Very occasionally when demand is at extremely high levels, we may need to turn to prioryCARE form off. We know this is not ideal for our patients but it is one way that we can help our clinical manage the high demand for appointments each day. Patients can still phone us on 01904 404100 or come to the reception desks and the team will take you through a series of questions just like the online form. If you have an urgent need and unable to reach us, please contact NHS111 for advice. In this scenario, patients are still able to request their repeat prescriptions and fit notes using the prioryCARE form.

How can you help?

• If you have a minor/viral illness, please consider using the NHS website or asking your local community pharmacy for advice.
• If you have a joint or musculoskeletal problem and want to access some exercises or speak to a physiotherapist, use the Your Physio website to see useful stretches, advice and to self-refer to physio.
• If you have a dental problem, please contact your registered dentist. If you are not registered with a dentist, please contact NHS111 and they can arrange emergency dental treatment as needed.

Please be reassured we continue to offer a mixture of routine (pre-booked) and urgent (same day) contacts across our sites. At times of high demand you may be sign posted to NHS111 etc if we have reached capacity. You can contact NHS111 online or by phone 24/7.