Practice referrals
Due to the nature and capacity of the service, we are making appointment slots available to practices located in central Reading (and within 1 mile of Royal Berkshire Hospital).
The list of practices that have been invited to book into the Same Day Access service is below:
Melrose Surgery
Pembroke Surgery
London Street Surgery
Whitley Villa Surgery (University Medical Group)
Milman & Kennet Surgery
Tilehurst Village - Chancellor House Surgery
Broad Street Health Centre
Abbey Medical Centre
Patients from these practices are more likely to be residing close to RBH and therefore it is more likely that they will attend ED and more practical for them to access RBH to be seen at the UCC/Same Day Access service.
The service is aiming to reduce the number of patients seen in the emergency department when a primary care appointment would be more appropriate and is not intended to provide general additional capacity for primary care (while making use of the availability of appointments within the service).
We anticipate if the service expands, later in the year to have more capacity to support practices with the intention to have a service in Wokingham and West Berkshire. However, for this pilot the focus is on these practices.
The service is for same-day acute care, not for routine, ongoing, or chronic problems.
The service is not able to provide blood tests, scans, dressing changes or specialist care. Please follow appropriate existing pathways to access these services.
Given the capacity and nature of the service, the number of available appointments is limited. These are bookable on a first-come, first-served basis to practices that have been invited to book into the service. We will monitor utilisation of the appointments and may feedback to practices where any bookings are felt to be inappropriate, on a case-by-case basis.
Please review the inclusion/exclusion criteria within the SOP below and only book/refer patients that are appropriate to be seen in the service.
When booking a patient into the service:
Please refer to the booking user guide and share this with staff booking in the service.
Please avoid telling the patient they will be seen at their exact appointment time. While we aim to see booked patients around their appointment time and usually within an hour, this cannot always be guaranteed due to clinical priority and demand from ED-streamed patients.
If you have any questions or would like more detail on the service, please email [email protected]