❄️ Winter Appointment Update – From October 2025

Winter brings increased demand for healthcare services, with many patients needing same-day urgent appointments. To make sure everyone gets the right care, in the right place, at the right time, we’ve made some changes to our appointment system starting October 2025.

🔄 What's Changing?

• 🕒 Same-Day Appointments
  Most appointments will now be available on the same day. If you're submitting an eConsult, please ensure you’re available that day in case an appointment is recommended.
• 🌐 Online Consultation First
  The quickest and easiest way to access care is by completing our online consultation form:
  👉 https://poplargrovemp.webgp.com/# A clinician will review your request and decide the next best step — this might be an appointment with a GP, Nurse, or Allied Health Professional, or signposting to services like a pharmacy.
• 👩‍⚕️ Requesting a Specific GP
  If you ask to see a specific GP, please be aware this may involve a longer wait.
  🔍 Check GP schedules here: Meet the Team
• ☎️ No Internet or Smartphone?
  You can still call or visit the practice — our team will help complete the online form for you. All requests are triaged in the order received — phone and walk-in requests are not prioritised over online ones.

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  🧠 Why the Change?

  General Practice is under significant pressure this Winter:

  • 📈 Rising consultation rates per patient
  • 👥 Growing patient lists
  • 👵 An ageing population with more complex needs

  These changes help us prioritise care fairly and effectively.

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  🙌 How You Can Help

  • 🧣 Stay well: Keep warm, eat well, and check on vulnerable neighbours.
  • 💊 Self-care: Minor issues like coughs, colds, sore throats, and small injuries can often be managed at home or with help from your local Pharmacist.
  • 💉 Get vaccinated: Please accept your winter vaccine invitation when offered.

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  📢 Thank you for your support and understanding as we work to care for our community this winter.

Poplar Grove Surgery aspires to be a welcoming practice promoting dignity and mutual respect to all our patients and staff.  We encourage ongoing learning and training to maintain the highest quality of patient care. We will work in partnership with each other and the wider community to continuously improve our patient -centred service through effective decision making and clear communication.

We listen to all feedback, good and bad, from our staff, patients and members of the local community. This enables us to design, innovate and evolve our services in line with the changes to NHS healthcare service provision.

Dear Patients,

We do understand the frustrations felt by patients accessing their local GP surgery and we are working hard to accommodate the increased level of demand. Aylesbury GPs have a close working relationship and regularly meet to discuss local challenges. Each surgery is experiencing challenging and growing strain with declining GP numbers, a significant rise in demand, a struggle to recruit and retain staff and a huge increase in new registrations from local housing developments.  

We have never been busier. Nationally, over 26 million appointments were undertaken in August 2022 which was 3 million more than in August 2019 during pre-pandemic levels. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/august-2022 . GP appointment bookings reached record highs over the winter of 2021/22, and we are bracing ourselves for an even busier Winter 2022/23.

General Practice is experiencing more personalised attacks on social media. Practice staff appreciate that illness brings anxiety and fear and therefore understand the frustration caused by the delays in accessing care. The majority of people who need support from NHS staff do so in a respectful way that helps us create a safe environment for all. Sadly, there are a very small minority who are abusive towards NHS staff. The NHS has a zero tolerance policy towards this. Abuse and intimidation are never acceptable and has led to the loss of vital members of staff.

We are grateful for your patience and understanding of the pressures facing the NHS as we continue to tackle the enormous health challenges put forth by the COVID Pandemic. Please remember you can help us in many ways by using the NHS App to view test results, order prescriptions, obtain lifestyle advice and cancel appointments.  Pharmacy first offer consultations for some minor ailments.

Please let your MP know of the issues you are experiencing. The crisis facing General Practice is bigger than just our local practices, it a national issue affecting everyone.

Thank you for your support.

Dr Phil Clayton and Dr Emma Montague
Berrycroft Community Health Centre

Dr Sajid Zaib      
Oakfield Surgery

Dr Juliet Sutton
Poplar Grove Practice

Ratish Pillai         
The Mandeville Surgery              

Dr Alexandra Bates
Westongrove Partnership (Bedgrove, Aston Clinton and Wendover)

Dr Graham Jackson
Whitehill Surgery

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in the Poplar Grove Practice in the last financial year before tax and National Insurance was £61,242 This is for 2 full time GPs, 14 part time GPs, and 1 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months. 2023/24 

It should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

This statement has been developed giving a clear statement for patients and public that after-care for two years after privately-funded surgery cannot be provided or arranged by GPs and must be purchased by the patient.

Poplar Grove: Modern Slavery Statement

We understand the need to mitigate modern slavery risks related to our operations and put in place measures to ensure there is no slavery or human trafficking in our own practice or supply chains. This statement is in accordance with Part 6 (Section 54) of the Modern Slavery Act (2005) 

Organisational Structure and Business

The practice is a GP led partnership, and our Senior Partner is Dr Pillai.  We have over 70 employees based in our practice working for the benefits of our patients.

Our Practice location is Poplar Grove, Meadow Way, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1XB.

Our management team provides line management support to staff and comprises of our Practice Manager, IT Manager, Development/PCN Manager and Patient Service Team Manager.

The Practice Partners and the management team provide the leadership and governance for services undertaken at the practice

Our approach to slavery and human trafficking

We are committed to tackling modern slavery within every part of our business and its supply chains. Our Anti-slavery statement demonstrates our commitment to the issue of modern slavery and ensures that appropriate and coordinated action is taken throughout the business.

Due diligence

We have taken action to understand and address the risks of modern slavery within our operations, including:

• The development of robust processes around whistleblowing, grievance, disciplinary and bullying and harassment policies, to provide both staff and patients with assurance that modern slavery concerns will be raised and dealt with appropriately

• Staff training and increasing awareness of modern slavery, on how to spot signs and raise complaints within the organisation, and monitoring the delivery of this training to staff

• Putting in place Strict standards for conduct in the workplace, mirroring the NHS code of conduct, as referenced within our staff handbook and code of conduct policy

• Ensuring inappropriate employment practices are avoided by adhering to our Illegal Working Prevention, DBS, and Recruitment policies, to ensure identity checks, DBS, qualifications and references are in place

Approved: August 2025