How to book a medical appointment

When you have a health problem or a condition you want to discuss, in most cases, it all starts with booking an appointment with your GP (unless your case is urgent – in that case, see the part about urgent care). 

• A regular GP appointment can be booked via a telephone call or online, depending on your GP practice and your preferred means of communication. 
• Usually they’ll first book you in for a phone call appointment. Your GP will call you to ask you a few questions about your condition and decide if you need an in-person consultation. 
• Sometimes you can get booked in for the same day consultation, but to be fair, it’s not very common. On average, you can expect to wait for up to a few days (or a couple of weeks, if the surgery is particularly busy) – but again, it depends on your GP practice.

If you’ve already experienced a similar condition or have a chronic disease, be sure to have your medical history documents at hand (if you have them), and write out all the medications that you have been prescribed for it before. Don’t forget to inform the doctor about your previous diagnoses and treatments, and any allergies or intolerances that you have.