Appointments
Routine appointments
Please telephone 020-8876-1033
During busy times, there may be some delay before you speak to a Receptionist – please be assured that every call is answered as soon as possible. The Receptionists cannot offer medical advice but they may ask you some questions to enable us to offer you the most appropriate service.
Urgent Appointments
If you need urgent medical advice, most days we operate a triage service, where a member of the team will assess you and either offer advice or arrange a suitable appointment for you. Please try to let us know as soon as possible, and ideally before 10.00am if you feel you need to be seen that day.
Cancelling your appointment
Please give us as much notice as possible if you need to cancel a booked appointment.
RGPA Hubs
The Richmond GP Alliance (RGPA) “Hub” was created in 2015 and was designed to extend access to routine GP appointments.
In Richmond, all GP practices work together to provide additional booked appointments at evening and weekends. These appointments are available at two conveniently located “hubs” in the borough.
If we (Essex House) are unable to offer you an appointment with a GP our reception team will look to offer you an appointment at one of the 2 hubs. These additional appointments will suit anyone who needs an appointment on the same day or unable to see a GP during normal working hours.
Out of Hours (6.30 p.m. to 8 a.m. Mon – Fri and weekends/public holidays)
111 have the option of referring you to the hubs; please note this is a weekend only arrangement. The process is that 111 will send a secure email to a dedicated Hub admin email and the hub receptionist will call you to arrange an appointment with them. In addition, a number of Community Pharmacists have the facility of booking patients in to see a Hub doctor; they will call the hub directly and book an appointment.
When you attend the hub, you will be asked to give consent to the GP you are seeing to access your medical records. This helps the GP to better assess your condition and provide the most appropriate treatment. The GP will update your records so that your own practice is kept up to date.
There are two hubs, open Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Sunday service operates between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on a rotation basis between the two Hubs. They are located at Sheen lane Surgery in Barnes (Hub 1) and Teddington Memorial Hospital in Teddington (Hub 2).
Home Visits
If you are housebound or too ill to come to the surgery, please telephone the surgery, preferably between 8.30am and 10.30am, to request a home visit.
Please come to the surgery if you can as we have better facilities on site for examination and treatment. The decision as to the need for a home visit rests with the doctor.
A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, a paramedic or to arrange a hospital attendance.
Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit.
