Patients have the option of a face-to-face or telephone consultation depending on your preference and the issue(s) you wish to discuss with a GP.  Some matters are not appropriate to be dealt with by telephone.

The practice also operates a system of Patient Care Navigation. This helps to ensure patients receive the right help from the most appropriate source as efficiently as possible. As a result of this system, our Receptionists have been instructed by our clinicians to always ask you for a brief description of your symptoms when you call for an appointment. Please assist our Reception team by describing your symptoms as best you can, particularly when they started, if they are worsening or if you have any new, concerning symptoms which started suddenly. 

• Phone the practice on 0131 334 5000 between 8.00am - 6.00pm, Monday to Friday.
• Reception staff will take brief details of your problem for the clinician and offer you a face-to-face consultation. 
• If capacity for safe working is reached at any point in the day the clinicians will revert to an emergency service only and you will be advised by reception and an alternative method of help offered.  This allows us to ensure we are providing as safe a service as possible for the patients who urgently require our attention
• Routine consultations can be pre-booked up to 2 weeks in advance for non-urgent matters or specific clinicians
• If you are booked in for a telephone consultation we would ask that you keep your phone switched on at the time of your appointment.  There is a small amount of leeway in the time of the call and it may be half an hour before or after the appointment time.   If you are not available the first time the clinician calls you they will try to contact you again but if you are not available for a second time, it is then your responsibility to call back.  Please be aware the practice number will be withheld or private.  
• Most matters can wait for the next available routine session, however, if you have an emergency or very urgent matter please advise reception  
• Please ensure if you no longer require your callback or cannot attend your appointment for any reason that you let us know so that we can then offer this to another patient.  You can do this by using the cancel appointment option at the bottom of the home page or by calling in person
• Questions about results are available by phone after 3pm.
• For a home visit please call before 11.00am if possible

Policy for Late Attendance at GP or Nursing appointment

The practice offers a range of GP appointments to suit all requirements:

If you have a list of problems it may not be possible to deal with all of them at one appointment and the GP may ask you to make a further appointment.  Please ensure you raise the most important issue first.

Routine Appointments - Can be booked up to 2 weeks in advance for GPs and up to 6 weeks ahead for Nurses.

Same Day Appointments - Released at 8:00am every day on a 1st come 1st served basis.  There are a limited number of appointments so unfortunately we cannot guarantee that every patient who calls will get an appointment. These are not emergency appointments but just extra appointments released each day.  For urgent matters please see "urgent appointments" and "triage consultations" below.

Urgent Appointments - If you have an urgent problem that you feel needs medical attention the same day Reception staff will take your details and you will be phoned by the duty doctor (see below). The duty doctor determines whether your problem can be dealt with over the phone or whether you require an appointment. The duty doctor will arrange the appointment for you. Urgent appointments should only be used to discuss the relevant urgent problem.

Early Morning Appointments - We offer a limited number of early morning appointments between 7.30am - 8.15am.  These are released one week in advance and may be on any day depending on doctor availability.  These appointments are aimed at those who have difficulty attending the surgery during working hours.  There are no nursing or walk-in services at this time, therefore, some procedures may not be possible.

Evening Appointments - We offer a limited number of early evening appointments. These are released one week in advance and may be on any day depending upon doctor availability.  These appointments are aimed at those who have difficulty attending the surgery during working hours.  There are no nursing or walk-in services at this time, therefore, some procedures may not be possible.

If you telephone and all the same day appointments have been allocated and you have an urgent problem, reception staff will take contact details to enable the duty doctor to return your call as soon as they can. The telephone consultation will enable the doctor to assess if an urgent appointment for that day is required, or if your problem could be effectively and safely treated without the need for you to come to the surgery or if it can wait for another day.

It may be possible, for example, for you to treat the symptoms at home with guidance from the doctor, to be put in touch with one of our nurses, to go to a pharmacy for prescription medication, or be referred directly to a hospital department for tests.

The practice has the option for you to have a video consultation with certain, but not all, doctors and for certain problems.   This is done via NHS Near Me.

Should you be invited for/prefer this type of consultation your doctor will advise you of the process and ask you to join the virtual waiting room prior to your appointment.   The link for the virtual waiting room is below.   

Should you have any technical problems joining the waiting room, please call the practice on 0131 334 5000 to speak to a member of the reception team.

Please click here to join the virtual waiting room for your appointment.  Your clinician will start the consultation in due course.    

For more information on NHS Near Me please click  here

Should you wish to speak to a particular GP about a non-urgent matter, reception staff can leave a message for them.  Your chosen GP will call you back within one week. 

If you feel your problem becomes more urgent whilst you wait for the GP to call you back please contact us.  The Duty Doctor deals with urgent matters on a day to day basis.

Chaperones

A chaperone may be requested by any patient if they would prefer to have one.  There are no chaperones available in the early morning or evening surgeries.

Gemma is our Advanced Nurse Practitioner with a PG Diploma in Advanced Clinical Practice. She has a wealth of knowledge in acute care and can assess, examine, diagnose and treat a wide array of medical conditions without the need for patients to see a GP first. Gemma can assist patients suffering from any acute medical problems including shortness of breath, chest pain, abdominal pain, muscular pain, minor injuries, infections, skin conditions, minor illness, paediatrics or mental health concerns. Gemma is an Independent Prescriber meaning she can issue prescriptions for treatment. She can also refer patients onward to hospital or community specialties and works closely with GPs in the practice if second opinions are required. If you wish to book an appointment with our Advanced Nurse Practitioner, please book in at main reception or call the practice on 0131 334 5000. 

Practice Nurses

Appointments with the Practice Nurses can be booked up to 4 weeks in advance. Appointments with the Practice Nurses are available from 8:00am, Monday to Friday. 

Our Practice Nurses see patients for chronic disease management appointments. 

Treatment Room Nurse appointments can be booked up to 6 weeks in advance. These Nurses see patients for a variety of problems such as dressings, injections and smears. 

Nursing Assistant 

The Nursing Assistant carries out duties under the supervision of the Nursing staff.  For example, blood pressure monitoring, assisting the GPs with minor surgery and taking blood samples.  Appointments are available daily at various times.

Phlebotomists

The Phlebotomists take blood samples from 8.00am throughout the week.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel an appointment in order that we can give the slot to someone else or follow the link at the top of the page.

You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance (excluding weekends and public holidays). You can also text to cancel your appointment.

If you need help when we are closed

If you required medical care outwith the normal surgery hours, please telephone the surgery and you will be given the telephone number for NHS24 and a Out of Hours doctor or nurse will deal with your problem. 

Alternatively you may telephone NHS 24 directly on 111.

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 11:00.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls. If you or your child have a temperature or a rash, coming to the surgery will do no harm, but please inform the receptionist when you arrive.

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

Complete our SMS Reminder Form

If you're planning to travel outside the UK you may need to be vaccinated against some of the serious diseases found in other parts of the world.

NHS Inform Travel Health and Vaccinations

We are a training practice and as such have GP Registrars working alongside us. The registrar is a fully qualified doctor who has chosen to specialise as a GP and is in the final year of a ten-year training programme, gaining supervised experience in general practice.

Some of the partners also teach medical students but you will always be asked first whether you are willing to see your doctor with a medical student present.

Occasionally consultations are recorded for teaching purposes, but again your consent will be sought first. You may also be asked if a medical student can interview or examine you at home to further their studies. At all times your involvement in such teaching and learning is voluntary.

We are very grateful to those patients who help the registrar and students develop their skills.