** Please note we have suspended our online appointment booking system**

APPOINTMENTS

Appointments are released at 8am. If the appointments have been given out for the day, we offer a telephone triage system for anything you feel is urgent and cannot wait until the following business day.

• Same day appointments are limited and can be allocated very quickly from 8am each morning.
• Routine telephone appointments can be booked one week in advance. There are very limited number of routine telephone appointments early morning or late evening on Tuesdays.
• The receptionist will take a brief message to assist the GP, all our calls are confidential.
• This enables the doctor to assess if a face to face appointment is required, or if the problem can be effectively and safely managed at home with guidance from the doctor.
• As Monday is an exceptionally busy day for the practice, our same day appointments are booked for anything our patients deem urgent and cannot wait until the Tuesday. 

We ask all patients that if you have any concerns and/or symptoms regarding COVID-19 then to please visit www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus or call NHS24 on 111.

Triage consultations:

• If our telephone appointments have been given out for the day and you feel your problem needs URGENT medical attention, the receptionist will take a brief message and ask the duty doctor to call you back as soon as they can.
• This enables the doctor to assess if an emergency appointment is required, or if the problem can be effectively and safely managed at home with guidance from the doctor.
• As this is an URGENT request by you, we would expect you to be available to speak with the doctor during the surgery's opening hours and if required to attend for a face to face consultation at the time requested by the doctor. Our GP's request that if you are NOT available, then to please call on a day that you are available. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why can I not book further than one week ahead? 
• We have previously opened up the diary for patients to book appointments outwith the one week, but we noted that our “do not attend/ DNA” failed appointment numbers increased. We found that limiting our diary to one week has dramatically reduced our DNA rates.

• Why can I never get through on the phone lines at 08:00?
• We apologise that the phone lines are extremely busy first thing in the morning.
• We have increased receptionist cover when the practice opens to help with this demand.

• Why are the same day appointments always used within a few minutes of the lines opening?
• We recognise there is increased patient demand on the NHS and General Practice as a whole, and unfortunately we can not accommodate all requests for a same day appointment.
• As a medical establishment, we have to prioritise all demands to deal with acute medical emergencies, and therefore we have introduced a duty doctor triage system.
• Each day, a duty doctor will triage and prioritise all calls felt to be urgent from patients, all prescription requests, and all hospital requests.
• Each day, the duty doctor can utilise urgent appointment slots following an initial conversation with a patient. It is noted that a lot of triage calls can be dealt with safety over the telephone.

Nurse Appointments

We have a very skilled nursing team. Therefore when asking for a nurse appointment our receptionists will make an appointment with the most appropriate clinician.

Please note we do not offer a general “well-man” or “well-woman” health check on the NHS (i.e. cholesterol or PSA checks) unless discussed with a doctor first.

• We offer routine appointments with our nursing team out with our normal opening times of Monday to Friday 08:00-17:00 which are highly valued by our patients who have difficulty making a day time appointment.
• We also offer appointments on a Tuesday after 18:00. When attending these appointments, please go to the door on the right of the main entrance and ring the doorbell.
• Unfortunately, we can not offer blood test appointments after 14:30 as they will not get analysed by the labs until the following day which can lead to erroneous results.

1. Phlebotomist:

• Can perform blood tests only

2. Treatment nurse:

• Can perform doppler leg scans, dressings, ear checks and syringing (currently suspended), injections, smear checks, stitch or staple removals, stocking measurements.

3. Lead practice nurse:

• Can review and manage chronic diseases (asthma, COPD/emphysema, diabetes, high blood pressure), contraception, sexual health screening, smear checks and wart advice.

Chaperones

There are occasions when patients need to be assessed by a doctor which might involve intimate examinations. This Practice is committed to putting patients at ease whenever possible, which includes offering a specific gender doctor (subject to availability that day), and/or a chaperone to be present during your examination. Please do not hesitate to ask us if you would like this.

It may not be possible for such a chaperone or gender-specified GP to be provided immediately and you might have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

Trust is important in the relationship between GP and patient and we would, at all times, wish you to feel able to ask for a chaperone, should you require it.