Practice Information

Surgery Times

The surgery is open from:Monday to Friday 8.00am – 6pm with surgeries running between 8.30am to 12pm and 1.30pm – 5.30pm (we also have a limited number of evening and early morning appointments on offer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) Between 8am – 8.30am emergency calls are the responsibility of the Medical Centre. Please telephone the surgery number, select option one and your call will be taken by the medical administrator on duty and passed to the on call doctor.

Surgery Telephone Number
The surgery telephone number is 01271 818030 (please be aware that all calls are now recorded)

Surgery Email  – d-ccg.caen@nhs.net

Situation

We can be found at the southern end of the main public car park in Braunton. There is a large Pay & Display car park outside the surgery.

Practice Area

We welcome patients who live within this area:-

Disabled Access

There are designated parking spaces for the disabled outside the medical centre and all the consulting rooms are on the ground floor. Specially designed toilet facilities are also available. The surgery has a portable loop induction service for those with compatible hearing aids. Please request it’s use if you need to.If you require any further specific help, please ask at reception.

New Patients & Registering With the Practice

We welcome any new patients who live within our practice area. If you wish to register with the practice then please come and visit the surgery in person, where our admin staff will take your details; alternatively download the registration packs from our website. Once complete please hand into the practice. If you have a preference with regards to registering with a particular doctor, please make this known to the medical administrator when registering. All new patients are invited to attend a health check consultation, either with a nurse, HCA or a doctor.

Caen Medical Centre does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, colour, national origin, disability, age or medical condition when registering new patients.

Named Accountable GP For All Patients

Every patient registered at the Practice has a named GP who is responsible for the patient’s overall care. At the time of registration you will be asked to choose which GP Partner at the Practice you would prefer to be registered with and we will make every effort to accommodate your preference.

If you are already registered at the Practice you will have been registered with a GP at that time. Should you wish to be reminded of your named GP please do not hesitate to contact us or if you wish to change to another GP please let us know and we will make every effort to accommodate your preference.

If you are over the age of 75 and would like to have a health check-up please contact the Practice for an appointment.

Appointments

All appointments offered are 10 minutes long.

There are 3 ways to book an appointment, which we hope you will find are well balanced between being able to see a Doctor at short notice (when you may have an acute illness), and being able to book ahead for planned care of more chronic conditions.

PRE-BOOKABLE APPOINTMENTS – About 1/3 of all appointments can be booked up to 6 weeks in advance. Please discuss availability of these slots with reception. Please be aware that these appointments are popular and get booked quickly for some of the doctors.

DAY BEFORE – Again, about 1/3 of the appointments are released for booking after 11am the day before.

SAME DAY – The remainder of the appointments are released for booking on the day. We have noticed quite a lot of dissatisfaction when patients think that if they queue outside our door early in the morning, then they should be able to get one of the first appointments of the day. However, as can be seen, only about 1/3 of the appointments may remain, so it may not be possible to offer an appointment until later, if the early slots have already been filled.

ON-LINE APPOINTMENT AVAILABILITY – A selection of GP appointments are made available for booking on line for up to 28 days ahead.  You can book a maximum of 2 appointments in a 28 day period on line and this includes any other type of appointment you may already have booked with say a nurse or for a blood clinic.  Only GP appointments are currently available on line.  Please call at reception for information on how to register for this service.  All members of your family including children who wish to have access to this service must be individually registered.

IMPORTANT

  • If you think you have an URGENT medical problem, please make this known to the receptionist.
  • If you wish to have a trained chaperone present at your consultation please let us know at the time of booking your appointment or inform the doctor or nurse.  All chaperones used in the practice are clinical staff who have received training to be a chaperone.
  • Most appointments with our Practice Nurses and Health Care Assistants can be booked up to 6 weeks in advance.

Appointment Availability

We aim to offer appointments with a Health Care Professional within 24 hours and appointments with a GP within 48 hours. Appointments with any member of the clinical team (GP, Practice Nurse, or Health Care Assistant) can be made either in person at reception, or by telephone, between 8.30am and 6pm.

Telephone Advice

If you need to speak to a doctor or a nurse about any matter, but feel it does not necessarily require an appointment, then our receptionist can leave a message for the doctor or nurse, who will try to phone back, usually after morning or afternoon surgery. Urgent matters should be identified to a receptionist, who can advise the duty doctor accordingly. In these circumstances a doctor will phone you back as soon as possible

Home Visits

Each day we offer home visits for acute illness, when patients cannot get to the surgery. Please contact the surgery before 11am and give the receptionist some indication of the problem so the visiting doctor will know how urgent the visit is. You may initially receive a phone call from the doctor to assess your needs. If phoning after 11am, the Doctor On Call will assess the situation.

Out of Hours Emergencies

Between 6pm and 8am weekdays and all weekend, there is a doctor on call for emergencies. These duties are shared by all the doctors in North Devon, a service called Devon Doctors.

If you require urgent advice or treatment when the surgery is closed, please call 111. (Calls to the out of hours service may be recorded).  Your call will be answered by an advisor who will ask you some questions to assess your symptoms.

111 will give you the healthcare advice you need or direct you to the appropriate local service – for example Devon Doctors for a GP, minor injuries unit, emergency department, community nurse or pharmacy.