The things people ask

Urgent appointments are available the same weekday at Riverside, and we hold that capacity back rather than releasing it for routine booking. Routine appointments are usually next working day. Physiotherapy is within three working days and the women's health clinic is within a week.

Yes. The booking page lists named clinicians with real availability, and if you have been seen here before your previous clinicians appear first. Continuity genuinely improves outcomes, so we make it the easy option rather than a special request.

Say so when you book and we will give you a double slot. First appointments are already longer than follow-ups — forty minutes for family medicine, forty-five for women's health and physiotherapy.

Sometimes, and when we do it is usually because someone before you needed more time than was booked. We will tell you at reception if we are running more than fifteen minutes behind so you can decide whether to wait, and one day that person will be you.

Through the link in your confirmation email, or by phone. We ask for twenty-four hours' notice. Cancellations inside twenty-four hours are charged at half the appointment fee, waived in genuine emergencies without requiring you to prove anything.

Always, and for some appointments we actively encourage it. Interpreters can be arranged with forty-eight hours' notice at no cost to you — please ask rather than relying on a family member to translate clinical information.

Per appointment. We do not run a membership scheme, because they tend to work out badly for the people who need care least often and create an incentive to see you more than necessary. Every price is published on the fees page.

The appointment fee is fixed. Tests, procedures and devices are additional and are quoted before they happen, never afterwards. If a clinician recommends something chargeable during your visit, they will tell you the cost in the room.

We are recognised by the major UK insurers including Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality and WPA. Check your policy for the excess and any requirement for a referral before booking. We invoice insurers directly where the policy allows it.

We issue a full itemised invoice with procedure codes for every visit, which is what insurers and employers need. Ask at reception or request it later through the portal.

There is no charge for writing a private prescription. You pay the pharmacy for the medication itself at its private price, which for most common drugs is less than an NHS prescription charge and for some is considerably more. We will tell you which.

The first follow-up after starting or changing mental health medication, and a video consultation that we convert to an in-person appointment within the first five minutes. Both exist because charging for them would create the wrong incentive.

No. You can book a one-off appointment as a visiting patient at the same price. Registering means we hold your record, can issue repeat prescriptions, and can offer continuity with a named clinician.

Not at all. Private primary care sits alongside NHS registration rather than replacing it, and we would generally advise keeping your NHS practice. You remain entitled to NHS care exactly as before.

Photo identification, a list of any medication you take including doses, and anything relevant from previous care — discharge letters, recent results, scan reports. If you have none of that, come anyway.

The form takes about ten minutes online. We ask for a summary of your medical history, which you can request from your NHS practice at no cost. You can book an appointment before that history arrives.

Yes, including children, under one household record if you prefer. Siblings seen in the same visit are charged at a reduced rate. Young people over thirteen have their own confidential record.

Yes. There is no catchment area. A number of our patients use video consultations as their main contact and come to Riverside only when something needs examining.

Yes, in full, through the patient portal and at no charge. That includes consultation notes, not just results. We write notes on the assumption that you will read them, which we think improves them.

Only the clinicians involved in your care, and anyone you explicitly authorise. We do not share with your NHS GP, your insurer or your employer without your specific consent on each occasion.

Only if you ask us to, and we will ask each time rather than assuming a standing permission. Where something genuinely should be on your NHS record — a new diagnosis, a medication change — we will recommend it and explain why.

Through the portal, with the actual numbers and reference ranges rather than a verdict of "normal", plus a plain-language note from the clinician who ordered them. Anything abnormal is a phone call on the day it reports.

Adult records for ten years after the last contact; children's records until their twenty-fifth birthday. This follows Department of Health retention guidance. You can request deletion, though we must retain some information where law requires it.

Yes. We will provide a complete copy in a portable format within one month, free of charge, and transfer directly to another practice if you tell us where.