More GP appointments for Mildenhall and Sudbury
If you need an appointment to see a doctor after work, at the weekend or over a Bank Holiday in Mildenhall and Sudbury then now you can.
It’s all thanks to the Suffolk GP Federation, which is spreading the reach of its GP+ extended hours service for people in those areas.
It already runs the same service in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Stowmarket, Wickham Market, Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill and it will open another in Newmarket in early 2019.
It means that the number of extra GP appointments available across Suffolk will increase to almost 1,700 per week.
Patients can ask for a GP+ appointment when contacting their doctor’s surgery. They can also be referred via the NHS 111 out-of-hours service and the ambulance service. Sessions are staffed by local GPs, nurses and other healthcare professionals
Those extra appointments are available just in time for winter planning, when there are often spikes in demand that put GP surgeries and hospital A&E departments under increasing pressure.
Paul Driscoll, Medical Director of the Suffolk GP Federation, said: “We have been running GP+ for over three years now and this latest news is all part of our plan to expand the service further.
“By extending the reach of this service we want to help relieve some strain faced by the NHS in Suffolk. It means we can help reduce the pressure on both general practice and hospital emergency departments by allowing patients to attend an appointment at a convenient time that fits in with their working day.”
Opening hours vary across bases but the service is running as follows:
- 30pm – 9pm weekdays
- 9am – 9pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays