How we are currently operating in order to meet demand.
Patient Services Team
When you phone the practice one of our team will answer. Please remember they are there to assist you. They will ask details of why you are phoning and the reason for making an appointment. This is to help make sure you are appointed with the right person and that our resources are being used effectively. For triage appointments it is necessary to be honest when giving a reason as it helps the clinician prioritise who to call back first.
Fit Note / Sick Note requests
These should be made by phoning the practice so that staff can take the relevant details for the doctor.
Triage appointments
These are telephone appointments for urgent on the day cases and should not be abused for Fit Notes / Sick Notes or prescription ordering. If you do not need assessed urgently then you should ask for a routine telephone consultation appointment.
Please note we treat any infection as urgent as it may require examination or a prescription that day or further intervention.
Routine telephone consultations
If you have received a letter asking you to make a routine telephone consultation. Please be aware that this is not urgent and that the first available telephone consultation will suffice. For anything more urgent that would concern a doctor they will try to contact you by phone and leave a message to phone back.
Appointments system
Staff are now able to book face to face appointments.
When booking either a telephone consultation or a face-to-face appointment staff will ask you for the reason for the appointment. It is helpful if you provide this.
We ask what your appointment is for in order that our patient services team can:
- Appoint you with the most appropriate clinician or direct you to a more appropriate service. This is known as signposting and has been adopted by the majority of practices in Scotland in order to make the most appropriate use of services and manage demand within today’s busy NHS environment;
- Ensure that if making a face-to-face appointment we screen for any coronavirus symptoms. We do this for patient safety and staff safety in respect of limiting the spread of the virus.
Patients do have the right not to supply a reason for making an appointment.
How we are achieving this service
In order to achieve this service we are now operating as normal with the exception that any routine appointment can either be a telephone consultation or a face-to-face consultation (patient preference), PPE continues to be worn and we ask those patients who can to wear a face mask.
Prescriptions
Timescales
Repeat prescriptions take 2 working days (48 hours) to be ready and acute prescriptions (items not on your repeat list) can take up to 3 working days (72 hours) to be ready. Please be aware of these timings and order in enough time for your medication to be ready for when you need it. We continue to ask that a pharmacy is nominated for the prescription to go to in order to reduce footfall to the practice.
Ways of ordering your prescription
- You can ask a pharmacy to manage your prescription ordering from the practice.
- You can post in a re-order form with your nominated pharmacy or a stamped addressed envelope.
- You can sign up to order prescriptions online. If this is for someone else you may require a signed mandate to do this.
- Our website also has a form for ordering acute prescriptions online.
- There is currently the ability to order prescriptions by telephone from 10am to 4pm. Calls outside these times are not accepted and we are closed for lunch between 12:30pm and 1:30pm every day except Wednesdays when we are closed for lunch between 12:00 noon and 2:00pm.
Forgotten to order your prescription in enough time?
If you forget to order a prescription for repeat medication and run out of important medicines, you may be able to get help from your pharmacy. Under the Urgent Provision of Repeat Medication Service, pharmacists may be able to supply you with a further cycle of a previously repeated medicine without having to get a prescription from your GP. If you receive stoma products from your pharmacy or other supplier and/or receive support such as continence products and welfare food from community services, you should ensure you have sufficient supplies as you may encounter difficulties in obtaining theses over public holidays, or when we are closed.
Any issues with the above should be directed to our Practice Manager and not our staff.
Thank you for your understanding.
