Patients at a Bath medical practice are benefitting from a new urgent clinic, which offers them same-day appointments and state-of-the-art treatment facilities.
The clinic is based at Oldfield Surgery, part of the newly-established Heart of Bath Medical Partnership, a result of the merger between Oldfield Surgery, St James’s Surgery and Number 18 Surgery.
The new facilities consist of five treatment rooms staffed by two GPs, one paramedic and one specialist nurse practitioner. There is also a learning space for trainee GPs.
Dr Tim Johnson, a partner at Oldfield Surgery, said: “The new clinic is a dedicated service for those patients who need urgent, same-day assessments.
“Typically, this may be for people who are suffering with breathing difficulties, chest pain, vision problems or unusual rashes.
“Once they’ve contacted us and spoken to one of our reception team, access is really fast and we can make sure they get seen on the same day.
“If you add in telephone consultations, we are typically seeing around 120 patients each day through the urgent clinic, so we are busy, but there has been a really positive response from patients.”
Dr Johnson said that the Heart of Bath Medical Partnership was a key factor in establishing the new clinic.
“The Partnership has enabled us to do things differently,” he said. “Between the practices we have been able to employ a full-time paramedic, which isn’t something that many surgeries can say they have.
“We’ve also been able to kit out the treatment rooms with vital equipment, such as defibrillator machines.”
The urgent clinic is open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
