Appointments

Every year, millions of us visit our GP with minor health problems that can be easily resolved without a doctor’s appointment. It is estimated that every year, 50 million visits to the GP are made for minor ailments such as coughs and colds, mild eczema, and athlete’s foot. ​Many health care problems do not need a doctor or nurse. Other professionals such as pharmacists, opticians and dentists may be better placed to help.

It is important that everyone uses their GP and local Accident and Emergency services wisely.

To request an appointment :

• To see the Practice Nurse they normally have a few available ‘on the day’ for emergencies
• book an appointment with our physiotherapist for muscle, joint and back problems – no need to see a GP first
• phone us during opening hours – We offer routine appointments with any doctor and these can be booked in advance by telephoning the Surgery. Telephone appointments are available for those not needing an examination.
• we also offer on the day appointments for those that need urgent medical attention
• use our admin request form via eConsult
• When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

Our consultation guide provides helpful information.

We currently use signposting to direct you to the most appropriate professional to help you. The trained call handlers will ask you to give them a brief description of your problem, this will be completely confidential and they will be able to book you in to the relevant GP/Physiotherapist/Mental Health Practitioner etc or give further advice on the best service to use. We also ask for a brief description in order to determine the length of appointment required to see the nurse as some conditions can take longer than the allocated 10 minute appointment slot.

The practice also runs some extended hours clinics in the early morning to try and accommodate people who work and struggle to make it to the surgery during normal opening hours. Please ask at reception for more information if you wish to use this service.

If you are unable to keep your appointment to see the Doctor or the Practice Nurse, please let us know as soon as possible as this can be used as an appointment for someone else.

How to cancel your appointment:

• using our online cancel an appointment form
• phone us during opening hours
• we often have problems with patients showing up late for appointments. This results in all patients booked in after you having to wait longer to be seen. If you are more than ten minutes late, the doctor may not be able to see you.

Sadly, we still have problems with patients not showing up for appointments with the Doctors and Practice Nurses. This causes a huge amount of wasted time, and means that other patients need to wait longer to get an appointment, and some sick patients may not get seen. If you know you are not going to be able to make it to an appointment, please let the surgery know as soon as possible so that another patient may use your time slot.

The Referral Management Service (RMS) is based at University Hospital Crosshouse and is responsible for booking outpatient clinic appointments within hospital services for a range of specialities and locations across NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

The contact details for the Referral Management Service can be found on all outpatient appointment letters. If you need to contact the service, call 01563 827070.

Vaccinations help protect you and your family from many infectious diseases. You’ll be offered different routine vaccinations at different times, depending on your age and circumstances. For most routine vaccinations, your local health board will invite you by sending you a letter when you become eligible.You do not need to contact them to arrange your vaccinations.

You may be invited to a new location to receive your immunisations instead of your GP practice.

However you choose to contact us, we may offer you a consultation:

• by phone
• face to face at the surgery

Appointments by phone, can be more flexible and often means you get help sooner.

Please tell us:

• if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
• if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, or by face-to-face
• if you need an interpreter
• if you have any other access or communication needs

The 111 service provides urgent care information and support if you think you need A&E but its not life-threatening, and advice when your GP, pharmacy or dental practice is closed.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

If you are housebound and need an appointment, we will do a home visit. We will phone you first to understand what you need.

To request a home visit, it’s helpful if you phone the practice before 10:00am if possible.