Telephone consulations and face to face consultations.

We operate an on the day clinician service.

All calls received between 8.00am and Midday will receive a call back on the same day from one of our clinicians. This could be up until 6pm

Our phone lines are busiest between 8am and 10am,  where you could be in a queue of 70 patients trying to contact us. This means your wait could be upto 1 hour if you choose to phone at this time. We would ask that if you are not looking to make an appointment with a clinician that you avoid these times.  

We on average receive 2,500 calls in a seven day period. 

The taking of appointments and requests by telephone allows us to respect your privacy,  the recording of the calls allows us to ensure accuracy and provide training information. Therefore we do not take appointment requests at the front counter.

If you are calling for anything other than a clinician contact please avoid the hours of 8am to 10am.

Once a telephone consultation has taken place you may be asked by one of the clinicians to attend for a face to face consultation.

Although due to demand this cut off point may be earlier in the day, you will be notified at the time of your call. All URGENT calls received between 12.30pm and 5.30pm will receive a call back the same day.  However, patients with non-urgent issues will be asked to call back the following morning where they will benefit from a call back the same day.  So the longest you should wait to speak with a doctor will be one working day. 

It may be more suitable for you to try other clinicians first as in using the Pharmacy First service at your local Pharmacy,  more information for this could be found here https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/pharmacy/nhs-pharmacy-first-scotland

This means that only doctors can book you in for a face to face appointment.  The reception team will not be able to do that for you.  This will not affect how nurse appointments are made.

If you have a new clinical issue then you will be called back by any of our doctors and this may not be the doctor you normally speak to.  However, we strive for continuity of care and if your query concerns an ongoing issue where you have already spoken to a doctor then we will attempt to have that doctor make the call to you.  If the issue is ongoing, please indicate this to the reception team member.   The receptionist will ask if there is a suitable time of day to make the return call and we will attempt to accommodate that request.  The doctor will make two attempts to call but if they can’t make contact then you may need to call the practice again to rearrange.  Please bear in mind that not every doctor is available every day so you may still receive a call from a different doctor. 

The restricted service runs from 12.30pm – 1.30pm and 5.00pm – 6.00pm.

If you call between these times, you will hear a message explaining that the practice is open but with a restricted service.  If your call is urgent, you will be asked to call back on a mobile number where one of the team will deal with your query.  If your call isn’t urgent you will be asked to call back after 1.30pm or the following morning.  This is very similar to the system in place on Wednesday between 12.00pm and 1.30pm.

We know change can be a bit scary but we hope to make the access to our doctors much quicker and far less difficult and stressful.  We will, of course, continue to monitor our system and make further changes if required.

In Summary

• Our administration team will take your details and ask one of the doctors to call you back. 
• If you call before Midday you will get a call back on the same day (unless we have high demand)
• If you call after Midday and your issue is urgent, you will get a call back on the same day.
• If you call after Midday and your call is non-urgent you will be asked to call back the following morning.
• Our phone lines will be on a restricted , urgent only service as detailed below:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday                                 12.30pm – 1.30pm and 5.00pm – 6.00pm

Wednesday                                                                             12.00pm – 1.30pm and 5.00pm and 6.00pm

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the practice where the reception team will be happy to help.