Fed up of calling at 8am for an appointment?

We want to overcome the challenge of the 8am rush.

The heart-breaking sight of our patients standing in queues to book an appointment or waiting on the phones, longing to have their call answered before the day’s appointments are all booked up and the words, ‘call back tomorrow,’ are announced.

We’re fed up of watching this and want to work with you, our patient's at Dashwood Medical Centre. We want to develop a similar service to the one we offer our patients at Northdown Surgery.

We have been on quite the journey with you since taking over Dashwood in September 2023 and hope that by working with you, we can serve and support all of you better.

In view of this, we have been discussing our thoughts for Clinician Lead Digital Triage with our Patient Participation Group. Following this, we are inviting you, along with all of our patients to a meeting on Wednesday 28th May, 7pm at St Lukes Church, (Hollicondane Rd, Ramsgate CT11 7JX) where we will discuss the options as we move forward. We would really appreciate your help and support with this, we want you to guide us as we plan the next steps. There may be things we would not have thought of or we might have missed and you can guide us on these.

If all timings go to plan, with your support we aim to launch Clinician Lead Digital Triage at Dashwood Medical Centre in June.

Most of us not only work locally but also live in Thanet, we want to leave behind a system which will continue to serve the people of Thanet long after we have all moved on from our current roles.

We feel incredibly passionate about the care of our patients and are excited for the future and prospect of making the 8am rush a distant memory.

Published: May 14, 2025