Appointments

Contact us online

The quickest way to get help from the surgery is to start your consultation online. You will be asked to fill out an online form with the details of your problem. The form might ask you the sort of questions that a doctor would and it is sent immediately to the practice.  

The doctors find it helpful as it gives them a lot of information about your problem so that they can get back to you with a phone call, email, text or a face-to-face appointment, as quickly as possible.

Online consultations received before 4pm (Monday to Friday, except Bank Holidays) will be seen by a GP on the same day. 

Starting your consultation online leaves the phone lines free for those of our elderly and vulnerable patients who cannot use the online system.

• Contact us online
• Use the NHS app

Phoning the practice

If you are unable to start your consultation online you can phone reception on 0207 604 2455. Routine telephone calls are taken until late morning each day and only urgent calls and emergencies after that. 

The online system is available all the time and forms submitted before 4pm will be assessed on the same day.

When you phone the practice, the reception team will ask you for some details of your problem or offer you the option of sending details privately by text message. Where possible please try to help them by giving them as much information as possible, as this will help them speed up your clinical care.

What is the best time to phone the surgery? I can never get through when I try

Our busiest times of day are 8am to 10.30am. We recognize that it can be difficult to get through on the phone in the mornings and we have changed staff rotas to increase the number of receptionists answering phones at this peak time. You can beat the queues by starting your consultation, or submitting your query online.

If you are phoning to book an advance appointment, to ask about test results, to ask about a prescription, or with any other enquiry, we would encourage you not to phone first thing in the morning. You will find it easier to speak to a receptionist after 11am.

Coming to the practice

We ask that all patients invited to come to the practice for a face to face appointment:

• Arrive promptly
• Wear a face covering/mask (the practice is unable to provide these for patients)
• Clean their hands thoroughly on entering and leaving the practice

Please call 0207 604 2455

If you have an urgent problem we will always try to help you on the same day. You can ask reception to leave a message for the duty doctor team who will call you back and either try to help you over the telephone or, should they think that it is clinically necessary, arrange for you to come in for an emergency appointment.

The duty doctor team are the GPs whose role on that day includes attending to urgent phone calls, urgent requests for appointments and urgent home visits.

Please do not come to the surgery to be seen unless you have been offered an appointment. The duty doctor will not be able to see you without having first spoken to you on the phone.

You must give your employer a doctor's 'fit note' (sometimes called a 'sick note') if you've been ill for more than 7 days in a row and have taken sick leave. This includes non-working days, such as weekends and bank holidays.

Visit our Sickness Certificates page

Information and advice for travelling abroad.

Visit our Travel Information page

Home visits are generally only offered to housebound patients who are too ill or frail to attend the surgery. If you think you need an urgent visit, please try to telephone before 10am to discuss your situation with the Duty Doctor. The decision to provide a home visit will be made on clinical grounds at the discretion of the Duty Doctor.

Non-urgent home visits can be requested through reception with the GP of your choice. It may up to two weeks to arrange a routine home visit on account of needing to fit the visits around the GPs timetables.

Chaperones

There are occasions when a patient might visit a doctor and require an intimate examination. A chaperone is a trained member of the practice team who may be present during such examinations to help put you at ease and also to help to prevent any misunderstanding between yourself and the doctor.

If you wish a chaperone to be present during your examination please do not hesitate to ask your doctor. It is also quite routine for your doctor to request the assistance of a chaperone during intimate examinations. The chaperone will only be present for the examination itself, and most discussion between you and the doctor will take place while the chaperone is not present.

Please be assured that all practice staff understand their responsibility not to divulge confidential information and they are bound by our confidentiality policy. 

You have the right to refuse a chaperone should you wish. Your doctor has the right to rearrange your intimate examination should a chaperone not be available, or should you decline a chaperone.

Full details of the practice's Chaperone Policy is available from the practice manager.

Interpreters

We can arrange interpreters for patients for British Sign Language or for patients who do not speak English. Please ask at reception when you are booking your appointment and give us at least three days notice to arrange an interpreter.

Our Primary Care Network, West Camden PCN (West Hampstead Medical Centre and Abbey Medical Centre) will be providing our patients with an extended access service, delivered locally by our practice clinicians.

These additional access appointments will be provided in a variety of ways which will be a mix of face to face, telephone and online econsults as follows:

• Monday Abbey Medical Centre 6.30pm to 8pm
• Tuesday Abbey Medical Centre 6.30pm to 8pm
• Wednesday West Hampstead Medical Centre 7am to 8am
• Wednesday West Hampstead Medical Centre 6.30am to 8pm
• Thursday West Hampstead Medical Centre 7am to 8am
• Thursday West Hampstead Medical Centre 6.30am to 8pm
• Friday West Hampstead Medical Centre 6.30am to 8pm
• Saturday Abbey Medical Centre and West Hampstead Medical Centre on alternating Saturdays - please check with the surgery for details 9am to 1pm
• Saturday Abbey Medical Centre and West Hampstead Medical Centre on alternating Saturdays - please check with the surgery for details 1pm to 5pm

These can be booked in the usual ways. Reception staff will be available in the hours we are providing a clinic for telephone bookings and cancellations only. We ask you not to attend the practice to book or cancel during the extended access hours.

The Camden Hub service will provide Urgent GP appointments only bookable via 111 between 5pm to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays 8am to 8pm

Find out more about the Camden GP Hub

Urgent Care Centres (UCCs) are services to deal with pressing medical issues that cannot wait, but are not emergencies which should be treated in Accident & Emergency departments. These UCCs are staffed almost entirely by GPs.

UCCs treat most injuries or illnesses that are urgent but not life threatening;  for example sprains and strains, broken bones, minor burns and scalds, minor head and eye injuries, bites and stings.

You don’t need an appointment, just turn up and you will be seen promptly by either a doctor or nurse. You may attend any Urgent Care Centre in the UK, you do not need to a be registered patient within the area of the UCC.

To find NHS services near you, please use the search function on the NHS home page.

These are the closest Urgent Care Centres to the practice:

St Charles NHS Urgent Care Centre
St Charles Hospital
Exmoor Street
London
W10 6DZ

Opening Daily 8am to 9pm
Tel: 0208 969 2488

Cricklewood GP Health Centre
Britannia Business Village
Cricklewood
Barnet
NW2 1DZ

Open Daily 8am until 8pm (including all Bank Holidays)
Last walk in appointment 7pm
Tel: 03000 334 335

The Whittington Hospital
Magdala Avenue
London
N19 5NF

Open Daily 8am to 10pm
Tel: 020 7272 3070

Royal Free Hospital
Pond Street
London
NW3 2QG

Open Daily 10am to 9pm
Tel: 020 7794 0500

Soho NHS Walk-In Centre
1 Frith Street
London
W1D 3HZ

Open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 8pm
Tel: 020 7534 6500