With the festive season almost upon us, we wanted to let patients know about our arrangements over the Christmas and New Year period.
With Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day all falling at weekends, the official bank holidays carry over to the following weekdays.
This means the practice will close for Christmas at 6 pm on Friday 24th December and reopen as normal on the morning of Wednesday 29th December.
For the New Year weekend, we will be closed from 6 pm on Friday 31st December until the morning of Tuesday 4thJanuary.
Salvie, our online consultation system, will also be closed over the two long weekends. We fully expect the practice to continue to be busy, and over the festive period, we will need to prioritise urgent clinical queries. This may mean our normal response time increases for routine and non-urgent issues.
Festive dates in full
| Friday 24th December | Open as normal |
| Saturday 25th December | Closed |
| Sunday 26th December | Closed |
| Monday 27th December | Closed (Christmas Day substitute bank holiday) |
| Tuesday 28th December | Closed (Boxing Day substitute bank holiday) |
| Wednesday 29th December | Open as normal |
| Thursday 30th December | Open as normal |
| Friday 31st December | Open as normal |
| Saturday 1st January | Closed |
| Sunday 2nd January | Closed |
| Monday 3rd January | Closed ( New Year’s Day substitute bank holiday) |
| Tuesday 4th January | Open as normal |
Reorder repeat prescriptions early
If you have regularly prescribed medication that needs to be reordered, please do so as soon as possible. A minimum of 2-3 working days is needed from us receiving a request to it being ready to collect, but with bank holidays and how busy the practice is, we would encourage you to allow more time.
You can request a repeat prescription through the NHS app. The service is available 24/7, and you can choose a local pharmacy to collect your medication from.
Getting help while we are closed
Your first port of call medical help when the practice is not open, should be NHS 111.
By visiting 111.NHS.uk or calling 111 you can:
- Get help and advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Check your symptoms and get advice on conditions and medication.
- Find self-help resources and links.
- Find out what services are available near you.
- Be connected to a nurse, emergency dentist, pharmacist, or GP.
- Get a face-to-face appointment if you need one.
You should only ever call 999 or go to Accident and Emergency if it is a life-threatening situation.
Other help
The Ponteland Road Urgent Treatment Centre in Cowgate is a Nurse-led unit for patients with minor illness and injuries. No appointment is needed, you can turn up and wait to be treated.
Local community Pharmacists are also available to offer you advice and treatment for a series of minor ailments such as migraines, teething, allergies and fevers.
A happy and safe festive season
From everyone at JHP, we would like to firstly thank you all for patience and support during a difficult year. We hope you all have a happy and safe festive season.