Our chaperone policy is designed to protect both patients and staff from abuse and to help patients to make an informed choice about their examinations and consultations.

A chaperone is a trained member of the surgery’s staff who is available to be in a consultation with you if you feel that the procedure or examination may make you feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. They are there to make you feel as safe and comfortable as possible.

No, you don’t have to have a chaperone, but they are available if you want someone in the room with you.

Preferably you can request a chaperone at the time of booking the appointment – this gives us enough time to make sure that someone will be available at the time of your appointment. But if not, you can request a chaperone at the time of the appointment – on occasion a chaperone may not be available and in this instance, we can reschedule the appointment.

If you request a chaperone at the time of the appointment, either ask a receptionist or ask the clinician – they will record your request in your notes and will organise for a chaperone to come to your appointment. 

A chaperone will enter the room discreetly and remain in the room until the clinician has finished the examination. The chaperone will normally attend inside the privacy curtain at the head of the examination couch and watch the procedure.

To prevent embarrassment, the chaperone will not enter into conversation with yourself or the GP unless requested to do so, and will not make any mention of the consultation afterwards. The chaperone will make a record in your notes after the consultation that they attended and will make a note of any problems.

No, you do not have to accept the chaperone who is offered to you, but if there is no-one else available, your appointment will have to be rescheduled for a time when another chaperone is available.

Improved Access

We are working together with other local practices to offer patients access to more appointments in the early mornings, evenings and at weekends. To find out more about these services, please contact the practice.

Customer Notice

We are having a new phone installed on Friday 5th August. This should not affect your ability to contact the Surgery as the switch over should be seamless. Please bear with us if you experience any issues.

Kind regards,

168 Medical Group

Surgery Closure

Due to a national problem with our clinical system, we are unable to open the surgery for the remainder of the afternoon (Friday 26th May).

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 999. If you have an non-emergency query, please call 111.

Thank you for your patience.

askmyGP is currently offline

Unfortunately, our askmyGP service will be offline today – if you have an urgent request, you will need to call the surgery on the below number.

Due to clinician sickness we have an increased demand on our services. Therefore we are only able to offer urgent appointments. We are triaging all requests and prioritising urgent requests first. 

Please call the surgery to make an appointment on 01934 624 242.