Page 14 - Oxted Local December 2024

14 December 2024 • Oxted Local 
01883 708 166 www.oxtedlocal.co.uk www.facebook.com/oxtedlocalmagazine www.instagram.com/oxtedlocal
Where to get
healthcare in
and around
Oxted…
With the overwhelmed NHS as it is today, it can be
a truly frustrating and stressful experience trying
to get seen by a doctor if you’re not feeling well or
have a minor injury or pressing health concern.
Towns like Oxted used to have cottage hospitals,
which were a brilliant filter away from the main
hospitals A&E and dealt with minor injuries,
minor procedures, rapid assessments and pretty
much everything that wasn’t specialist or a major
emergency, including care of children and elderly
patients who needed to be near home.
Up until 2001, we had a great cottage hospital - The
Oxted & Limpsfield War Memorial Hospital - off
Eastlands Way in Oxted. Sadly, like most of them,
due to the unwillingness of the government to invest
money into cottage hospitals, and the belief that it
was better to close community hospitals and focus
funding on District Hospitals (oh for the benefit
of hindsight!) Oxted’s cottage hospital fell prey to
developers and is now the Lankester Square estate...
So, what is the process of getting seen for non-
emergency care and who should you call?
OXTED HEALTH CENTRE, GRESHAM ROAD, OXTED
Part of the Dorking Healthcare Group and home to
NHS GPs and community nurses. Downstairs also
has an ultrasound facility. The centre also provides a
range of specialist services, 01883 734000.
www.oxtedhealthcentre.nhs.uk
Getting an appointment here can be an extremely
frustrating experience, though once you’re in, the
doctors and nurses do generally offer a great service.
The most effective way to get an appointment is
to turn up in person, and request an appointment
face to face. If you can’t do this, call at 8am for an
“urgent” same day appointment and be prepared
to hold for up to 30 minutes only to find they’ve
all been allocated for the day, OR if it’s not urgent,
go online and request an appointment (between
7am-9am) and you will be contacted within a day or
two. There are also lots of other services that can be
accessed online.
CALL 111 OR USE https://111.nhs.uk/triage/check-
your-symptoms. If you feel unwell, particularly
out of regular medical centre hours, and cannot
get a GP appointment, call 111 for a call-based
assessment and triage. They will direct you to the
appropriate medical centre and/or out of hours care
and make an appointment for you, providing all the
background information you have given them on
the phone.
Out of hours appointments could be at Caterham
Dene, Epsom Cottage Hospital, Crawley Urgent
Treatment Care, Dorking Community Hospital or
Shirley Oaks (Croydon) Hospital.
CATERHAM DENE HOSPITAL - NEAREST URGENT
CARE FOR APPOINTMENT AND WALK-INS
Caterham Dene is a brilliant Urgent Care centre if
you think you need to be seen urgently but don’t
want to go to A&E and are not suffering from
serious injury or life-threatening concern. This
community hospital is the nearest to Oxted, and
deals with pretty much all non-emergency issues
and delivers a great service for everything from
minor injuries, infections, breathing issues, UTIs and
rapid assessment for all concerns.
It’s best to be referred via 111 (as above) who will
triage, book and call ahead, but you can also just
walk in. It is open 8am to 8pm daily. 01883 837500
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