Total Triage

Total Triage

New GP Appointment System from 1st October 2025 at Downsfield Medical Centre

New Total Triage Model for appointments

Your easy online way to contact us

From 1 October 2025, in keeping with the New GP Contract, Government directive and many other GP Surgeries in England, we are moving to the Total Triage System for appointment provision.

Instead of telephoning the practice, all requests for GP and urgent appointments will require the completion of a simple online triage form, accessed from a smartphone, NHS App or our website, where you will describe your symptoms/needs.

Our online consultation tool is available during our core opening hours, 8:00am to 6:30pm (Monday to Friday).

You can use this service to contact the practice about:

1.Non-urgent appointment requests

2.Medication queries

3.Administrative requests

When you submit an online consultation during these hours, your request will be reviewed by the practice team on the same day. We will let you know how your query will be handled — for example, whether you will receive a message, a phone call, or an appointment.

Please note that while you will receive a response explaining what will happen next, this does not always mean you will be seen or treated on the same day.

We will keep you informed about the next steps, usually by email or text message, once your request has been reviewed by our team.

Many patient requests can be managed by return online/digital communication without the need for a traditional face to face appointment with a GP.

As with any new system, there are likely to be challenges and adjustments, but feedback nationally, from many other GP Surgeries already using the Total Triage model, has been universally very positive. With patients receiving replies to their enquiries often within hours of submitting their form, avoiding the inconvenience of waiting in a queue on the phone.

Streamlining service provision in this way is a more effective use of finite NHS resource and aims to give appointments to those in most need of one.

For patients unable to contact the practice online, our reception phone lines will remain open for guidance and support in completing the form.

There are no changes to making Practice Nurse appointments, wound dressings appointments, vaccination appointments, HCA or chronic disease (diabetes/asthma/COPD) appointments, and the minor injury service.

It is important for you to provide detailed and accurate information about your symptoms on the form. To improve efficiency, and to reduce our need to request more initial information from you, please include how long you have had your symptoms, their severity/effect on your function, and what treatment you have already tried. This will help us triage appropriately.

Please submit only one problem on the form and ensure your contact details – telephone/text/email details – are up-to-date.

Total Triage will be open Monday to Friday during core hours.  For medical advice over the weekend and bank holidays, please continue to use 111, or 999 for life-threatening emergencies. 

We will have 3 types of appointment: same day for urgent requests – a member of staff will contact you to book the appointment. Within 1 week, and within 2 weeks for more routine requests.

Through September, we will have limited appointment availability as our current system winds down. Please be patient during this required process.


For advice on how to complete the total triage form


Frequently Asked Questions

Access to a GP appointment has been a national challenge for years. Total Triage will significantly reduce the traditional rush to seek an appointment when surgeries open. It aims to improve patients receiving the right care at the right time.
You can still contact the practice by phone or in person and we will assist you in completing the online Total Triage form.
Our Patient Participation Group are kindly disseminating information about the change to Total Triage by a variety of means, and assisting/educating patients accordingly. We will use digital and poster messaging and social media.
No, all requests must use the form. Whichever way you contact us – online, in person or over the phone, all requests will go through the same ‘single way in’ online Total Triage process.
We continue to have a duty doctor every day to deal with urgent queries.
Requests for sick notes and other administrative requests must also be made using the online form.
You can request to see or speak to a specific doctor by stating so on the form, and we will take this into account when raising our response, but cannot guarantee this.