Rapid health is our online patient triage system; Rapid Health can be used to access self-care information, submit medical and administrative requests, and even register new patients to the surgery.
Get started with our online booking tool
With Engage Consult you can ask the practice a question, complete an online consultation, and get 24/7 NHS self-care advice. Start here
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Handforth Health Centre
Welcome to our surgery website
Changes from 1st October 2025
Many of our patients may have seen or heard the news about changes coming into effect from 1st October regarding contacting your GP practice for an appointment. As you may already be aware, we already use a triage platform for requesting appointments. These requests are reviewed by a GP each day and prioritised as appropriate. Appointments are then offered accordingly. This ensures that patients are seen as quickly as possible, depending on their clinical need. If you feel you need to be seen on the day, please contact us as early as possible in the morning and the doctor will review your request. This doesn’t guarantee an appointment on the day as the doctor may feel this can wait, or we have reached capacity.
We only have a certain number of appointments available on the day. Once we have reached capacity, you may be directed to an alternative provider e.g. 111 / Out of Hours. Although you can submit a request up to 18:30, we expect this will be for routine requests, as our urgent appointment slots will have been taken by then.
For routine appointments, you may be sent a booking link to make the appointment. This will depend on the appointment you need to be booked into.
As with all GP practices, the number of appointment requests has increased significantly over the past few years. Unfortunately this has resulted in our waiting times increasing too, as Government funding has not kept up with the demand for appointments.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – AI Medical Scribes
Enhancing Patient Care with AI Technology
At Handforth Health Centre, we are committed to providing you with the highest standard of care. To help us achieve this, we use an advanced AI-powered tool to assist our clinicians in documenting consultations, allowing them to focus more on you rather than administrative tasks.
What is Our AI Medical Scribe?
Our AI Medical Scribe is a secure and intelligent system designed to listen to consultations and generate clear, concise medical notes for your records. This tool streamlines documentation, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. Clinicians always review and approve the notes before they are added to your patient record.
How Does This Benefit You?
Enhanced Consultation Experience: With automated notetaking, your clinician can dedicate their full attention to you, fostering better communication and understanding.
Accurate Medical Records: The AI scribe helps maintain clear, precise, and comprehensive documentation, improving the quality of your care.
Time Efficiency: Reducing paperwork means clinicians have more time to focus on addressing your health concerns.
Your Privacy and Consent Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Our AI Medical Scribe complies with strict data protection standards to ensure your information is handled securely and confidentially.
Your Choice Matters: If you prefer not to use the AI Scribe during your consultation, you can opt out at any time. Your care will remain unaffected, and your clinician will take notes manually instead.
No Obligation: The use of the AI Scribe is entirely optional, and we fully respect your decision.
How to Opt Out If you wish to opt out, simply inform our reception team when booking your appointment or let your clinician know at the beginning of your consultation.
For any questions about data privacy, feel free to speak with our team or refer to our Data Privacy FAQs available at reception or on our website.
Date published: 18th July 2025 Date last updated: 18th July 2025
You and Your General Practice
You and Your General Practice (YYGP) describes what practices and patients can expect of each other. Patients are encouraged to be on time, be prepared, and avoid wasted appointments be cancelling early. Patients can ask to be supported by general practices in a variety of ways. The full document can be found here should you wish to read further details.
111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.
NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
In case of a life-threatening emergency, please dial 999.
REBUILDING GENERAL PRACTICE
The NHS is under extraordinary pressure, and this is particularly true of General Practice. The staff at Handforth Health Centre, and other practices up and down the country, are working hard to continue to look after your health but we are under more pressure than patients may realise.
We have seen strikes in other areas of the NHS in this last year due to reduced pay and exceeding workloads and we wanted to make patients aware of some of the issues we are facing as well as some of the ways that you can help support our Practice.
We are extremely proud of all our staff who continue to work hard to provide patient care in the face of all these difficulties over recent years. We have a great population of patients under Handforth Health Centre, and we are thankful for the patience and gratitude they have shown over the years. Our ask is for you to continue to be patient with us during these difficult times and us all to continue to show respect to one another.
Below are some of the simple ways that you can help ensure we continue to provide services to you safely and efficiently.
If you need urgent help for your mental health, you can call 111 and select the mental health option. https://www.nhs.uk/…/where-to-get-urgent-help-for…
You can use the NHS App to check your symptoms and get instant advice, book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP medical record and more.
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AccuRx Triage
Please be aware that our accuRx patient triage system will be switched off each day at 6:00pm and opened up again at 6:00am the following morning (except for over a weekend when it will re-open on a Monday morning). If you require medical attention within this time, please contact 111 or 999 in an emergency.
