The Limes Medical Centre stethoscope

How Do I...
Make An Appointment?

To contact the surgery telephone 0844 477 1887 and select from the following options:
(Please note: Our telephone number is a low-call rate from a BT landline, calls from mobiles may cost considerably more.)

  1. Appointments
  2. Test Results
  3. Home Visits
  4. Repeat Prescriptions
  5. Administration
  6. General Enquiries

Appointments can be made 48 hours in advance, excluding weekends, by telephoning the above number. Please remember an appointment is for one person only. For emergencies please phone between 9.00 and 9.30am.

Patients between the ages of 16 - 75 and those aged 75 years and over who have not been seen by a doctor or nurse for any reason during the last 3 years will be offered a consultation if requested by the patient.

Emergency appointments are available for problems that cannot wait, ie something that has happened since the last surgery. You will be given a specific time to come to surgery; you may, however, have a short wait and you will be seen by whichever doctor is free. If the condition is not thought to be urgent you may be asked to make an appointment. Please do not use these appointments for long-standing or trivial complaints. Patients who continually abuse this service will receive a warning letter.

Extended Hours (Pre-bookable Appointments Only)


Alternate Tuesday and Friday 7.00 (1.5 hours)
Monday     6.30 (2 hours)
Wednesday 6.30 (1 hour)

Cancelling An Appointment

If you are unable to keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. Missed appointments are a waste of a health professional's time. If you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment you may be asked to rebook. You are now able to cancel appointments whilst the surgery is closed; please leave your message as instructed to do so. These will be picked up once we are open. Please note this service is for cancelling appointments only.

How Do I...
Obtain Telephone Advice?

The doctors may deal with your problem with telephone advice between 11.30am and 12 noon. At other times they may be busy and in that event the receptionist will take a telephone number which will be passed on via the doctors’ message book and the doctor will either phone back or suggest an alternative time to ring. Interruptions during surgery are upsetting for both doctors and patients and for this reason the receptionists have been asked not to disturb consultations with non-urgent telephone calls.

How Do I...
Obtain A Home Visit?

Home visits will only be made to patients the doctors consider to be too ill or immobile to come to the surgery. There is no automatic right to a home visit. Requests should be made, if possible, before 10.00am, giving the receptionist as much information as you can to assist the doctor in deciding the degree of urgency. It is safe to bring children with a temperature into the surgery. They will be seen as quickly as possible and, if infectious, will be told where to wait.

Situations where visiting is not usually required:

  • Common symptoms of childhood: fever, cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/ vomiting and most cases of abdominal pain. These patients are almost always well enough to travel by car. It may well be that children are not well enough to travel by bus or to walk, but car transport is sensible and always available from friends, relatives or taxi firms. It is not a doctor’s job to arrange such transport.

  • Adults with common problems of cough, sore throat, flu, back pain, abdominal pain are also readily transportable by car to a doctor's premises.

  • Common problems in the elderly, such as poor mobility, joint pain or general malaise would be best treated by consultation at the surgery. The exception to this would be in the case of the truly bed-bound patient.

The above are examples of visiting guidelines issued by the Department of Health.

How Do I...
Obtain Test Results?

Blood and urine tests will generally take three to four working days before the results are available and x-rays 10/14 days depending on the type of x-ray. The results of cervical smears can take between 12/14 weeks. Patients are not normally contacted with results unless they are abnormal and require an urgent appointment or treatment. Please ring the practice reception after 10.00am for any results.

How Do I...
Obtain A Medical Certificate?

Sick certificates (SC1) for the first five days of absence from work are available from reception, your employer or a post office. After this initial period they will be provided at the time of a consultation with your doctor. A fee will be charged for private certificates.


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