Frequently Asked Questions

All of the services that you are accessing here within the Access a GP online portal are provided for you to use on an unlimited basis personally.

Incredibly however, included in your membership as standard, we also offer all of these same benefits for all family adults living with you in the same household address.

We believe in sharing these benefits with your entire adult family to ensure the Wellbeing and Health of all of your family. Adults can access the GP Service on behalf of their own children.

Available 24/7 to offer support, advice and Counselling on any life or personal issue. No matter how small or big the problem, Our Counsellors are available to you. All Counsellors are professionally qualified and accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Our team of directly employed counsellors answer all calls. All counsellors are:

1. Accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
2. Have a minimum of three years post qualification counselling experience
3. Are qualified to at least Diploma level in counselling
4. Abide by the BACP code of ethics

Counselling services are completely independent and your call is treated in the strictest confidence in accordance with the BACP Ethical Framework. We will only ever break confidentiality if we believe this is a risk of harm to a child or dependant adult.

Counselling sessions will be arranged with you as telephone based sessions or sometimes called telephonic sessions.  

The Wellbeing team will make these arrangements directly with you.

Whilst We here at Access a GP provide you with access to these specialist services, all session arrangements and discussions with the Wellbeing team and Counsellors will take place between you and them directly. We have no ability to arrange or change Wellbeing and Counselling sessions for you, as you will work with them directly yourself.

Access a GP only requires basic personal details from you to provide you with membership and access to the Access a GP service.

Access a GP is not the provider of the GP / Clinical services. Rather we are providing you as a member, with access to a Professional GP service, provided and operated by a General Medical Council (GMC) authorised GP service, that is assessed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). That provider operates systems and data controls that are ISO27001 accredited.

Access a GP will therefore never ask you for sensitive personal information or medical or health information. You will only share that information voluntarily with the GP service provider directly.

The 24/7 Counselling Line provides an early source of practical and emotional support for you or anyone in your household who may facing issues in their home or work life, before they begin to impact on their life too much.

The 24/7 Counselling Line provides advice on legal, medical, health and wellbeing issues, as well as offering a Counselling service and information on financial matters, including a debt advice service. 

Discuss anything that is troubling you, whether it is personal difficulties – for example relationships, family matters, stress, loss or bereavement; or work-related issues such as feeling pressure, work-load, changes at work, bullying or harassment. Whatever your situation you can be sure of a supportive and constructive response. You are not alone.

In the very unlikely event that you have a complaint, please contact us by email at the following address, where one of our management team will respond to you within 2 business days:

info@accessagp.co.uk

Ethos
We take complaints very seriously and always strive to give the very best service at all times.

We will always be fair with all of our users. We firmly believe in treating others respectfully and we naturally expect that fairness to be reciprocated.

The Professional GP services provider, who provide the GP / Prescription services for Access a GP, are Clinical Guardian audited, and are also assessed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). You can see their latest CQC rating here

The provider is the largest direct GP service provider of it’s kind in the UK, established for over 20 years and with in excess of 4.0m users.

Their data controls and systems are ISO27001 accredited. 

If you have a question about anything that was discussed during a telephone or video consultation, you must re-contact the GP at the clinical team you spoke to to discuss that matter, as we at Instant GP are unable to comment or guide on clinical matters.

We provide a membership process which allows our members access to GP’s 24/7, and we are not involved in any clinical matters and nor do we directly provide any medical guidance.

The GP service that we provide you with access to, will of course discuss any clinical aspect of your health with you.

The GP does not have direct access to your medical records. However, with your consent or if the GP believes that it is in your best interests, the GP can send a record of the consultation they have completed with you to your GP to be included in your medical records.

All you need to do is call into the service and book an appointment with the operator.

You will need to provide an email address and have access to a computer or laptop with a webcam at the time of your appointment. Your phone needs to be located close to your computer/laptop screen

Virtual Doctor Appointments are available between 8am to 10pm 7 days per week, excluding Bank holidays

Once you have made your appointment, you will be sent an email to enable you to join the doctor in the online surgery meeting room. Please be ready to access this email link at the time of your appointment

At your appointed time, the doctor will call you on the telephone number you provided to the operator. If for any reason there is a problem with the internet or broadband connection, you can still benefit from your GP consultation by telephone

Click the link in the email – this will take you to a screen where you will be asked to enter your name then click “Next”
You will then see a small window/pop up box which will ask you to “Allow Adobe Flash Player Settings” – click “Allow” to enable the webcam consultation to take place

You will then see the Welcome screen with the Doctor showing in the top left hand corner. Please note both the telephone conversation and the video images are recorded for customer service and monitoring purposes.

Clicking and dragging from the bottom right hand corner can enlarge the image of the doctor

To assist in the diagnosis or explanation, the Doctor may wish to refer to 3D medical images of the body. This will appear in the central section of the screen

Once your consultation is complete and you have a clear course of action, the doctor will end your online appointment, and you can now close your browser window.

This service enables you to have a virtual face-to-face consultation with a practicing qualified GP in the comfort of your own home or at work, at a convenient time to suit you. It is available between between 8am to 10pm, 7 days a week, excluding Bank Holidays.

The service is designed to be secure, confidential and easy to use; you just need an email address, a broadband internet connection, computer with a webcam and your phone to hand. The service is an enhancement to the current 24/7 GP Telephone Consultation Service and enables you and the doctor to see each other via webcam on your computer or laptop making for an enhanced communication between doctor and patient.

For example you may have pain in your shoulder and difficulty moving your arm properly. This service will help the doctor to see exactly where the pain is and how it restricts your movements. Or you may have abdominal pain – again, you can point to exactly where the pain is helping the doctor in diagnosing your problem and advising you accordingly.

Now you don’t need to leave home or work to see a qualified GP. With Online Doctor, the UK’s first online webcam GP consultation service, you can arrange a virtual face to face consultation at a time that fits with your busy life, from 8am to 10pm, 7 days a week, excluding Bank Holidays (telephone consultations are available 24/7).

At home – you don’t need to wait days for an appointment and travel to a busy surgery to wait for your appointment
At work, without having to leave the office
The Online Doctor Service is further enhanced using state of the art 3D medical images and health information, enabling you, the patient, to have a more complete understanding of your condition.

Please note that this is an OPTIONAL private prescription service which is available with the GP Service that we provide you with access to, and that service is provided by a third party UK based online Pharmacy provider

The pharmacy provider will charge fees for any prescription that you order. These fees will be made clear to you. As this service is NOT subsidised by the NHS, it is not uncommon for private prescription charegs to vary significantly and may be higher than you might assume. As we have no involvement in that process, we are unable to comment on the costs of this prescription service.

Please see our page covering this process here

There is no limit to the number of times you can use the GP Telephone Consultation Service.

You can call as often as you need, secure in the knowledge that all advice will be given by practising GPs who are in touch with the latest advances in medical care.

No. This service is not a replacement for your own NHS GP or the emergency services. It can provide you with advice and support and answer any routine queries that you may have.

It is not designed to be used for urgent medical problems for which you should seek immediate advice from your registered GP, or alternatively call the emergency services. This is to ensure that “hands on” medical attention is not delayed.

Our service is designed to provide you with additional support whenever you or your family may need that help.

Our service absolutely does not require that you change or de-register from your existing GP. You will still be registered with your existing GP and can use their services exactly as you do currently.

Our service will simply give you more help, 24 hours per day, every day, and include your family household and convenient appointment times to suit you, whenever that may be.

We provide the option of Phone or Video call appointments, and you can also have medication prescribed ad delivered direct to you too.

The GP Telephone Consultation Service provides an invaluable source of diagnosis, reassurance and advice that often prevents an unnecessary trip to a GP.

We can help with most questions you may wish to ask a GP, but if you have symptoms that require a physical examination or a secondary care referral, you may have to see your NHS GP.

Any healthcare issue that you feel requires the expertise of a doctor

An ache or a pain that won’t go away – we can provide diagnosis (where appropriate) and clinical advice on your symptoms and discuss possible treatments and next steps

Sensitive or confidential concerns

Explanations of diagnosis or treatment you may have been prescribed

Possible after-effects of surgery

Side-effects of any medication you’re taking

Vaccinations you may need when you’re travelling abroad and other health precautions relevant to your own personal medical history

You can easily cancel your membership subscription using the MEMBER button option in the Access a GP Online Portal. From there you can access your subscription and payment mandate and cancel the subscription. As soon as you cancel your membership all of your benefits will cease. If you are unable to access the Access a GP Online Portal, you can send us your cancellation request via our Contact us page in this website.

Payments are made monthly in advance. You can cancel your card payment before it is due, including the day that is due and you will have no more to pay. There is no refund or part refund if you cancel a payment after it is due.

Access a GP reserves the right to cancel any membership subscription and benefits access in the event that the service has been used inappropriately by any subscriber.

Payment will be made by secure card payment. Monthly payments will then be taken each month by secure card payment on that same date each month. The payment date cannot be changed.

Payments are made monthly in advance. You can cancel your card payment before it is due, including the day that is due and you will have no more to pay. There is no refund or part refund if you cancel a payment after it is due.

Payments will appear on your bank account as “Access a GP”.

If you have been granted access to our Access a GP online portal, you are able to manage all of your personal details, contact information, payments and subscriptions and security settings from the App.

If you have lost access to the App or have never accessed the online portal, please send any query or request to us using the Contact form on our Contact us page

If you choose our monthly subscription plan, we have a minimum 3 months membership period, and you will be liable to pay for a minimum of 3 months membership. You may cancel your plan at any time after that. We reserve the right to seek three months of minimum payments from you using the card mandate that you created when you applied for this plan.

If you choose our Annual subscription plan, we have a minimum 12 months membership period, and you will be liable to pay for a minimum of 12 months membership. You may renew your plan at any time after that. There is no refund policy if you have selected the annual subscription and want to cancel after you have selected this plan within the 12 month subscription period.

As soon as you register for this service, we will send a welcome email to you with all of the instructions on the service and how to access it, including your personal user name and password.

You will need this user name and password to be able to use the service and arrange GP consultations.

When you call the GP service, when they ask for a policy or reference number, you simply need to mention to the receptionist that you are a member of Access a GP, arranged through BHSF and they will grant you access. 

You don’t have a membership number.

Yes, our GPs can issue electronic prescriptions sent directly to your preferred pharmacy for convenient pick-up.

No appointments are needed. You can connect with a GP instantly at your convenience, any time of day or night.

Yes, Access a GP’s services are available across the United Kingdom, ensuring that everyone has access to healthcare anytime.

You can use Access a GP’s services through our online portal, ensuring easy and quick connection with a GP.

Access a GP offers 24/7 access to qualified General Practitioners, providing consultations and medical advice anytime, anywhere in the UK.