CAMIDOC - Clinicians On-Call
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• Patients

• Introduction

Camidoc provides Urgent Medical Care for patients in Camden, Haringey, Islington, Hackney and the City of London between 6.30pm and 8am Mondays to Fridays and 24 hours at weekends and on bank holidays. During these times the number to call is:

020 7530 5445

During the working day Camidoc may be providing cover for your GP practice but this varies from day to day so it is important that you call the practice first. It is not possible to make appointments with your practice or to get test results by calling Camidoc.

Camidoc is here to deal with medically urgent problems that have arisen while your surgery was closed, and which cannot wait until it re-opens. We will attempt to deal with your urgent problem, to help relieve your symptoms or assess whether you need hospital treatment.

It is important that you consult your own GP for follow up treatment if the problem has not resolved. Your own GP is also the best person to sort out any on-going problems.

Camidoc is not here to provide a second opinion, or to offer a consultation out of normal surgery hours because it might be more convenient. Callers without urgent medical problems will delay our ability to respond quickly to those people who have a genuine need for medical care outside of surgery hours.

The details of your consultation will be passed to your own GP and will be available by the next working day.

• Our Services - What To Expect

Calls to Camidoc are answered by a telephone operator. To be able to process the call the operator will need to record certain details about the patient. They will need to know the name of the patient’s own doctor, if they have one. They will also need to know the patient’s name, address, date of birth and telephone number. Finally, they will want to know the reason for the call. No call can be passed to a clinician without all of this information.

Telephonists are trained to recognise emergency situations so that if an ambulance is required urgently, this can be organised without delay. They may also refer callers to an Accident & Emergency Department, particularly if the patient needs to have stitches in a wound or an x-ray.

All other calls are passed to one of the clinicians who will telephone the patient as soon as they are free. This will normally be within an hour of the initial call.

Camidoc clinicians do not have access to the records held at the patient’s surgery. For this reason they will need to ask a number of questions about the current situation and may also ask for information about past medical problems.

The clinician will discuss with the patient the best course of action. This may be any of the following:

• Offer telephone advice
• Issue a prescription over the telephone, which the patient can then collect from their local chemist
• Ask the patient to attend one of our Primary Care Centres
• Arrange for a mobile doctor to visit the patient at home
• Organise admission to hospital
• Call an ambulance

• Primary Care Centres

Camidoc currently operates five primary care centres and any patient who is invited can call into whichever is the most convenient. Please note that Camidoc does not provide a walk-in service and anyone going to a primary care centre who has not been invited by the duty doctor will be turned away.

Camidoc’s Primary Care Centres are located at:

1. St Pancras Hospital, 4 St Pancras Way, NW1 0PE.
2. Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, NW3 2QG.
3. Whittington Hospital, Highgate Hill, N19 5NF.
4. The Laurels, St Ann’s Road, N15 3TH.
5. Homerton Hospital, Homerton Row, E9 6SR.

• Home Visiting Service

Patients who are unable to attend a Primary Care Centre may be offered a home visit. Most home visits should take place within two hours of the clinician calling the patient. Home visits are prioritised on the basis of clinical need, which sometimes means that less urgent calls may be delayed.

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Important note: If you decide on an alternative course of action and no longer need either a home visit or to attend a primary care centre, please let us know.
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• Unregistered Patients

It is important that you are registered with a local GP practice. To find out about registering you should call your local PCT during office hours:


For Barnet Residents:
PCT Patient Services 020 8201 4772

For Brent Residents:
Contractor Services 020 8427 7888

For Camden Residents:
PCT FHS Contracts020 7530 1182/3/4

For Chelsea Residents:
PCT Patient Data 020 7150 8000

For City & Hackney Residents:
'Find A Doctor Service' 020 7683 4610 / 020 7683 4645

For Haringey Residents:
'Patient Services Depertment' 020 8272 5500

For Islington Residents:
'Contracts' 020 7527 1182/1183

For Kensington Residents:
PCT Patient Data 020 7150 8000

For Westminster Residents:
PCT Patient Data 020 7150 8000