Appointments

Consultations

Consultations are by appointment only and can be made between 8.40am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.  You are free to ask to see any doctor in the practice, however specific doctors may not be immediately available. Please make a separate appointment for each person wishing to see a doctor.

We also offer pre-bookable early GP appointments from 7.15am to 8.30am on a Friday (although this may change due to holidays). These additional appointments are for patients who, due to work commitments find it difficult to attend during normal working hours.

All appointments with the doctors are for ten minutes. If you have more that one problem to discuss, please tell the doctor this at the start of your appointment so that the most important problem can be dealt with first.  If it is not possible to deal with several complex problems during a single consultation, you may be asked to make a further appointment to deal with less pressing issues.

Our appointment system is organised to minimise your waiting time, but whilst we try to see you at the appointed time, some problems take longer than the time allocated, so please be patient if there is a delay.

If you wish to speak to a doctor by telephone, please ask the receptionist who will take your details and ask them to phone you back. Doctors will return your call within two working days.

Patients with urgent problems will be able to discuss them with the duty doctor, and where appropriate, will be seen the same day. The receptionist will ask you one or two questions to assess the urgency of your request.

Cancellations

If you are unable to keep an appointment please contact the receptionist as soon as possible, so that the appointment can be allocated to someone else.

Emergencies

In a medical emergency, please dial 999 for an ambulance.

Home Visits

If you are not fit to come in to the surgery, the doctor may visit you at home. When possible, request home visits before 10.00am for a visit that day. The receptionist will ask you one or two questions to assess the urgency of the call. Urgent calls will be attended to immediately.

Please remember that the doctor can see at least four patients in the surgery in the time it takes to do one visit.

Out of Hours and Weekend Calls

If you are ill and need urgent medical advice when the surgery is closed, call NHS 24 on 111. If you call the surgery out of hours, you will hear a message asking you to call NHS 24 on this number. NHS 24 will assess your symptoms and give appropriate advice or arrange for you to be seen by a nurse or doctor if it is felt necessary. This may either be at a Treatment Centre or at your home. Out of hours cover is now the responsibility of NHS Lothian.

The NHS 24 website is accessible at http://nhs24.com/