Increased Access Appointments

How the Increased Access Service Works

Appointments are offered as a mix of face-to-face and telephone consultations. You may be asked to attend a different GP practice to receive your appointment.

In addition to GP appointments, the Increased Access service also offers appointments with Practice Nurses and other healthcare professionals at locality clinics. These appointments may include chronic disease reviews, cervical smears, and other routine services.

Appointments are booked by your own GP practice, in the same way as weekday appointments. When the service is open, practice phone lines will automatically divert to the Increased Access service.

Monday to Friday (6:30pm–8:30pm) appointments are same-day appointments and are intended for urgent, on-the-day health concerns.

Saturday and Sunday appointments are mainly pre-bookable routine appointments, with some availability for on-the-day issues.

Please note that once all appointments are fully booked, you may be directed to an alternative service such as NHS 111. Administrative staff working at locality clinics do not have access to patients’ full medical records and are therefore unable to answer queries relating to prescriptions, referrals, test results, private work, or updates to medical records.

If you need to cancel or rearrange an Increased Access appointment, please contact your own GP practice during opening hours, or the practice that is open during the relevant evening or weekend session.