Do the Advance Nurse Practitioners (ANP) refer to a Dr if they are unsure of anything?

Always, cases are discussed with Drs throughout the day as necessary.

Why do the receptionist ask such personal, intrusive questions when we book an appointment?

We ask the reason for the appointment to prioritise how urgent the need. For example, if the patient has chest pain, it may be better to ring 999. We ask the reason for all nurse appointments to ensure we allow the correct amount of time for each procedure. NHSE have also asked us to “map” these appointments i.e., blood tests, smears etc.

What happens with an abnormal blood result?

All blood results are read and reviewed by Drs. Patients can call into the practice to ask for their blood results or view them online. But, for any signifcant abnormal results, the patient will be contacted. If there is anything of significant importance this will be tasked to the reception staff to contact the patient with instructions from Drs (or Drs will contact them directly by telephone or by letter).

Furthermore, we have a software programme Eclipse which flags up any outstanding blood tests and the patient will be contacted to make an appointment.