Booking an Appointment
There are various ways you can book an appointment:
Telephone
By Telephone by ringing 0151 424 3101/244 3339 from 8am to 6.30pm.
Our Care Navigators will ask you some questions regarding the reasons for your call and will care navigate you to the most appropriate service.
The Duty GP, will review all patients allocated to them and triage patients. You will be allocated a GP appointment if the GP feels this is appropriate.
In Person
In person at the receptionist desk 8am – 6.30pm.
Our Care Navigators will ask you some questions regarding the reasons required for a GP appointment and will then care navigate you to the most appropriate service.
The Duty GP, will review all patients allocated to them and triage patients. You will be allocated a GP appointment if the GP feels this is appropriate.
Online
Online (see details below).
From January 2013 you can now book an appointment and order your repeat prescriptions on line. Please click on the link https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk and then click the green Register Now button to register to use this service or alternatively, download the NHS app.
Widnes Extended Access Service (formerly known as GP Extra)
You can also book an appointment by contacting a receptionist here at The Beeches Medical Centre on 0151 424 3101 to be seen by a GP at Highfield Hospital, Highfield Road, WA8 7DJ
This is especially helpful for patients who work, as this service is open from 6.30pm – 9pm Monday – Friday and Saturday and Sunday 9.30am – 3.30pm.
Other services available at Highfield Hospital are Phlebotomy and Cervical Screening, amongst other services. To book an appointment, please contact The Beeches Medical Centre on 0151 424 3101.
Online Consultation – PATCHS
You can submit an online consultation during our core practice operating hours: Monday – Friday 08:00am – 18:30pm (except during dedicated practice learning times – the dates of these closures can be found on our homepage)
A GP will review your consultation within 48 hours and advise on the appropriate action. If clinically necessary, a face-to-face appointment will be offered. Please click on the banner below, to launch an online consultation.
If you require medical attention outside practice opening hours, please ring 111 for medical attention or if life threatening please call 999.
Home Visits
Home visits are at the GP’s discretion and are only for urgent medical problems when the patient is to ill or frail to attend the surgery. Home visits are generally reserved for patients that are housebound.
Please telephone before 10.30am to request a home visit. If a home visit request is received after 11.45am the doctor may not be able to visit until the following day.
Non-urgent advice: Emergency or Life Threatening
If your problem is life threatening, please phone 999.
You can also ring 111 for medical advice.
Non-urgent advice: Patient Responsibilities
It is very important that patients are expected to keep their appointments and attend in good time for their appointment.
If you can not attend for your appointment, then please contact us on 0151 424 3101 as soon as possible so we can re-arrange your appointment. This also ensures that we can allocate an appointment to another patient.
Please note that patients who repeatedly do not attend their appointments may be removed from the practice.
Non-urgent advice: Requesting a GP of your choice
Patients can request to see a Doctor of their choice, if that doctor is available on that day. Please inform a receptionist and they will arrange this for you.
You can also select a Doctor of your choice when submitting a PATCHS request.
Demand on our service at busy times
We try our best to answer as many calls as quickly as possible but during peaks hours the demand is very high, we appreciate this can be frustrating to our patients.
If you are struggling to get through on our phone lines, have you considered submitting an online consultation. To start a online consultation, please click below and GP will respond to you within 48 hours.
Is a GP appointment appropriate?
Pharmacy First Scheme – Could a local Pharmacy help?
Patients can now get treatment for seven common conditions directly from their local pharmacy, without the need for a GP appointment or prescription.
The Pharmacy First scheme was launched by the government and NHS England on 31 January 2024 to give patients quick and accessible care and ease pressure on GP services.
Community pharmacists will be able to supply prescription-only medicines, including antibiotics and antivirals where clinically appropriate, to treat seven common health conditions without the need to visit a GP.
The seven common conditions are;
- Sinusitis
- Sore throat
- Earache
- Infected insect bite
- Impetigo (a bacterial skin infection)
- Shingles
- Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
Most pharmacies within Halton are participating the service. For a list of local pharmacies, please click here
By reducing the number of patients with common conditions Pharmacy First aims to free up 10 million GP appointments a year by next winter for more complex diagnosis.
This will give GPs time and space to see patients with more complex conditions.
Four in five people in England can reach a community pharmacy within a 20-minute walk and there are twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived communities, making access to care quicker and more convenient