The role of the family doctor is to give advice, treatment and prescribe medication, he can also make a referral to a specalist doctor if he feels it is necessary.

All persons living the UK should be registered with a GP in the area that they live in, this enables the doctor to have your medical details and history, and also allows the doctor to visit you at home if you are unable to get into the surgery.

Most doctors surgeries have an appointment system. That could mean a person may not always be given an appointment on the same day that they phone up. The government guidelines for receiving an appointment at a doctors surgery is as follows, 'an appointment should be offered within 48 hours whenever possible '.

Most surgeries keep one or two appointments free each day for emergencies. If this is the situation at your surgery then it would be best to ring first thing in the morning to get an appointment.

Some doctors run open surgeries at certain times of day where you can sit and wait your turn to be seen. Also some surgeries make available over the phone a nurse or doctor that you can speak to.

Out of Hours surgery

Your family doctor will have made provision for an emergency doctor to be on call outside of surgery hours. To use this service it is usual to call your family doctor on the usual telephone number, the call willl then be transferred to a call center for a locum doctor to deal with.

In House Services at the family doctor's surgery

Most doctors surgeries provide services with the practice nurse. These can include: General treatment room duties (eg dressings, injections and ear care) as well as nurse-led clinics in health promotion (eg women's health, prevention of Coronary heart disease and child and travel immunisations) and chronic disease management (eg diabetes and asthma care). The variety in the role is one of the attractions of practice nursing.

If you feel that you do not need to see a doctor, you could go to a local Pharmacist who will give advice on minor illnesses, If he thought it was necessary he may advise you to make an appointment to see your doctor.

If you are not happy with your doctor for some reason it is best to talk first to him, or the Practice Manager at the surgery to try and rectify the problem. Remember that you can always change your doctor if you wish.

If all else fails after talking to the doctor then you can make a complaint to 'The General Medical Council ' who will investigate your complaint. Their website can be found at The General Medical Council

For other help and advice on health matters you can telephone NHS Direct 24 hours a day on 08454647 , or if you have access to the internet , go to their website for help. There you can also find services in your area to locate a family doctor, community nurses, opticians, dentists, pharmacists and therapists. website NHS Direct