How do appointments work?

We try to deal with the vast majority of appointments on the same day wherever possible. In order to do this, a clinician will call you back to discuss your issue in more detail as this allows us to assess the urgency of the problem. This is called Telephone Triage and is carried out by our GPs and ANPs.  The first part of any consultation is a conversation where we gather more information about your ailment and decide what we need to do next and how urgently this needs to be done.

Please be mindful when booking your appointment that there is only 10 minutes allocated to each appointments; therefore our clinicians can only deal with one issue per appointment.

Some issues can be dealt with over the telephone and do not require a face-to-face appointment. It may be appropriate for you to have investigations before we see you, such as blood tests.

By working in this way, we are able to offer face-to-face appointments every day when required for more urgent problems. You may not always see the same clinician every time, especially if your issue is something urgent. However, for more complex and long term cases, we do try to involve the same GP for continuity.

It is very helpful to us if you can call as early as possible give as much information as you are comfortable with to our reception team when you call. This allows us to allocate your triage call to the appropriate clinician and saves a lot of time.

Calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.

Extended Hour Surgeries

Once a week there is surgery times out with core surgery hours. This is staffed by different doctors from our practice each week.

We prefer you always to see the same doctor at each visit to the surgery as this ensures continuity of care; when making your appointment can you, therefore, say which doctor you usually see. However, we will always see someone on the same day for urgent problems, though you will not necessarily see your usual doctor. Please ask to speak to a doctor if you cannot be fitted in and you feel you need to be seen quickly.

Chaperone

If you would prefer to have a chaperone present during an intimate examination please tell the doctor. You can either bring a friend or we will ask a member of the staff of the medical centre [male or female as appropriate] to come in.

Advanced Nurse Practitioners

In many cases, it will be appropriate for you to see one of our Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP) rather than a doctor. ANPs are trained to Master’s level and are qualified to assess a wide range of ailments, request investigations, make referrals and prescribe medication. This allows us to create more time and availability for the GPs to deal with more complex issues. Read more about our ANPs here

Practice Nurses

Our practice nurses are qualified to deal with a wide range of issues such as contraception advice and checks, weight management and wound care, as well as chronic disease management such as high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma. You can make appointments in advance for routine checks and blood tests.

Community Link Worker Service

The Community Link Worker service is provided by Link Workers from Royal Voluntary Service and are based in  Dunbar Medical Centre.

GPs can refer patients to the Community Link Worker service if they believe there are non-medical needs which can be met by the service – this might include help and support with social isolation, mental and physical well being, getting involved in the community or learning new skills through volunteering or training.

The service offers a series of approximately 6 appointments (either face to face or over the phone) at intervals agreed with the patient ‘client’, starting with an assessment and developing to achieve outcomes agreed between the Link Worker and their client. The recent introduction of the Elemental System means that GPs can create a referral electronically and Link Workers can update clients’ cases as time progresses, giving GPs visibility of progress and outcomes.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Emailing Photos to GP Services

Please note that patient photos should only be sent if requested by a clinician, and we will always ask for the patient’s consent. Please also be aware that there are risks when sending personal details out with the practices secure network; therefore it may be unsafe as this travels over the public internet and we cannot guarantee the email will be delivered to / received by the practice. Photographs will be part of your patient record. If there is any inappropriate correspondence sent to the Practice, action will be taken.

Photos only to be sent at the request of a clinician – Loth.photos76180@nhs.scot