same day appointments \ home
Beacon Primary Care was one of the last practices in West Lancs to adopt this system. We still operate a book ahead system but only 2 slots per GP per day are allocated this way.

We are aware that this causes problems but the practice had little choice in implementing this system, there are two main reasons for this:

1. Missed appointments:
Across ALL 3 sites approximately 160 people per week were simply not attending for their appointment. There was no call to cancel, this wasted valuable clinical time.
When asked, most said that they had missed the appointment because they had booked them so long ago, or they had "got better".

2. Government Targets.
We are obliged to offer appointments with a GP in 2 working days. We face a financial penalty for missing this target. This system is the only way to ensure we can keep to this target.

 How can I get round this?
 

Telephone consultations with the GP are more readily available. The GP can then Override the system and book you in. Incidentally, over 90% of telephone consultations result in a resolution of the clinical problem.