Appointments

(as of Monday, 31 July 2017) 

Due to an increase in requests for urgent appointments throughout the day, the morning Open Access service has become unsustainable and the doctors have made the difficult decision to change from a morning walk-in service to a pre-booked appointment system in the morning as well as the afternoon.

The last Open Access surgery will run on Friday, 28 July 2017 with appointment-only surgeries commencing on Monday, 31 July 2017.

A few morning appointments are now available to book for Monday, 31 July 2017 onwards.

Emergencies will always be seen

The Practice will continue to offer on the day appointments for urgent matters that cannot wait until the next free pre-bookable appointment but this may not be with the Minor Ailments practitioner or GP of choice.

These appointments will be spaced throughout the day and will be given out in time order.

The Duty GP will continue to deal with telephone queries throughout the day.

For more information, please click on the link below

Patient Update Leaflet (PDF).pdf

Please note that application forms for Online Services (Appointments and Prescriptions) are not yet available for collection, either at Reception or online.  More information about the introduction of this service will be available in the coming weeks.

Consulting times are 08:00-10:30 (07:30 on Tuesdays) and 14:00-17:30 

The practice runs open access surgeries in the mornings and pre-bookable surgeries in the afternoons. These can be booked by telephoning 019755 62253 or directly at the appointment desk during opening hours. Routine appointments will usually need to be made in advance. 

Please note doctors stagger their consultation days/times to allow early and late appointments.

Please arrive in good time for your appointment and always book in at reception. 

On occasions, surgeries can run late because earlier consultations have taken longer than normal or your doctor has been called out to an emergency.  If you have been waiting longer than 20 minutes please ask the receptionist for an explanation. Remember there are lots of reasons for the doctor to be running late; a previous patient may have arrived late or brought several problems, someone may have required a longer appointment than expected - this is very common if a patient needs to be admitted to hospital.  Very occasionally the GP may have been called out on an urgent housecall.  We would ask for your understanding and patience as such times.We ask for your understanding and patience at such times. 

Extended Hours

Extended hoursappointments are offered on Tuesday mornings between 07:30 and 08:00 and on occasional Saturday mornings, however you will not be able to contact the practice during this time. 

Please be aware that they are pre-booked appointments only, and there will not be access to nursing services (such as blood taking, ECGs etc) at the same time. You may need to book a separate appointment to arrange such investigations.

Urgent Appointments

Ring the surgery on 019755 62253 preferably soon after 08:00.  Genuine emergencies will be seen in an emergency surgery each morning, if the problem cannot wait for a routine appointment.  You may not be able to see the doctor of your choice and you may have to wait.  Please do not come into the surgery expecting to see a doctor immediately.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many ailments and you may be seen more quickly, however, they are unable to prescribe medication. Nurse appointments are currently available between 08:30 – 15:40 and can be made by telephoning 019755 62253 or directly at reception during opening hours.

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.

Surgery Closures

The surgery is closed during public holidays and occasionally on wednesday afternoons for staff training. During these closures medical cover is provided by NHS 24 and GMED.

To access this service phone the surgery and a recorded message will give you the number to call.  Alternatively dial 111 or visit http://www.nhs24.com/.

Please note this service is for urgent problems only, routine issues should wait till the next day.

Emergencies

For severe life threatening emergencies call 999

You should call 999 for the following emergencies:-

• suspected heart attack or severe chest pain or breathlessness
• loss of consciousness
• choking and you are unable to help
• Suspected stroke

Attend the nearest A+E department/casualty rather than coming to the surgery for any of the following:-

• a serious injury such as a suspected fracture 
• head injuries especially if the person has been knocked out
• bad burns
• road traffic accidents
• eye injuries
• nosebleeds not settling with first aid

Morning Surgeries

Morning surgery appointments are changing - click on the

link below for more information

TERMINATION OF MORNING OPEN ACCESS SERVICE - Poster.docx

Appointments in the morning are for an acute or urgent problem.  These are new problems which have arisen within the past 3 weeks and can not wait for a routine booked appointment.  This may be a brand new problem or an acute flare up of an existing medical condition such as an asthma attack.  These appointments are available between 08:00-10:00 and currently can only be made by presenting at the surgery when it opens.  An appointment slot is for 10 minutes and is for one problem and one person only.  Slots are issued strictly in order of arrival and you will be allocated a slot with the next available doctor or Minor Ailments Practitioner. You will not be able to request a specific doctor but you may request a female GP if one is available for a gynaecological problem.

It should be noted that Open Access appointment slots are limited as the GPs and Minor Ailments Practitioner can only see a certain amount of patients each per morning surgery.  This becomes even more limited when one of them is off on annual leave or is absent for another reason.  If all the Open Access slots have been taken before 10am you will be offered a call back by the Duty Doctor who will determine how best to deal with your problem.

If you are feeling very unwell please inform the receptionist and we will ensure you are seen as soon as possible.  Remember if you think your problem is life threatening it is more appropriate to call an ambulance rather than coming to the surgery. When all the appointment slots are issued for the morning no further patients will be seen unless the problem is very urgent.  If you feel your problem can not wait for a routine appointment or until the next day please give the receptionist your correct details so that the duty doctor can contact you to arrange a suitable appointment.  If your problem is not considered urgent you may be offered an appointment later in the day, a phone consultation or an appointment on a different day.

Please remember we will never turn away any sick patients. 

Conditions that will not be dealt with in the morning surgeries include:-

• Cervical smears
• STI screening
• Contraception reviews - unless for emergency contraception
• Foreign travel advice
• Repeat prescriptions
• Chronic illness reviews such as diabetes or COPD - unless it is an acute exacerbation of a pre-existing illness e.g. asthma attack, chesty cough in COPD, low blood sugar level in diabetes, breathlessness or chest pain with known heart disease, visual disturbance or sensory problems in MS.  Problems such as these will be seen.
• Fungal toe nail infections
• Smoking cessation advice
• New patient consultations/requests for medication

Examples of suitable reasons to attend morning surgery:-

• New onset pain anywhere in the body not responding to simple pain killers or your usual treatment such as a GTN spray
• Recent onset or worsening breathlessness or cough other than a simple cold
• Injuries - although these may be better dealt with at a minor injuries unit or A+E
• Blood loss - if severe call an ambulance
• New onset dizzyness, lightheadedness or balance problems
• Recent onset hearing or visual disturbance
• Rashes
• Fever of more than 24 hours not responding to calpol/ibuprofen
• Diarrhoea and/or vomiting lasting more than 48 hours
• Severe depression/anxiety - feeling suicidal
• Possible urinary tract infection

Please note this list is not exhaustive, if uncertain please feel free to phone the surgery and discuss with a doctor who will advise you what to do.

Please consider the following before attending the morning surgery:-

• Many minor complaints can be treated at home, you do not always need to see a GP or Minor Ailments Practitioner. Often for minor ailments such as earache a GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner will only recommend trying simple pain relief for 48 hours. Remember for colds, coughs, earache and conjunctivits, antibiotics are rarely recommended where symptoms have been present for less than 48 hours.

• Eye problems are best dealt with by an optician, all the local opticians offer urgent/same day appointments.

• Remember you should see the nurses for health and lifestyle advice, blood pressure checks and blood tests.

• At particularly busy times if it becomes apparent during the consultation that you will require bloods tests or swabs do not be surprised if the GP asks you to make an appointment for the nurse for these.

• If a consultation is taking longer than 10 minutes the GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner may well ask you to make a further appointment or return to open access another day.

• Other health resources such as the local pharmacy or on-line services such as http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/HomePage.aspx which has lots of helpful information.  http://www.patient.co.uk/ is another very useful resource.  

Afternoon Surgeries

Every afternoon we offer pre-booked appointments from 14:00-17:30.  Surgeries are staggered throughout this time to allow earlier and later appointments.  These appointments are made by telephoning in advance. 

Please arrive early for your appointment and always check in at Reception so the doctor knows you have arrived.  

Appointments are 10 minutes long and are for one person only.  Please try to avoid bringing lists of problems as this causes the GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner to run late and is not fair on other patients waiting.

Pre-booked appointments can be made with the GP of your choosing.  Bear in mind you may have to wait a few weeks to see the GP of your choice.  

Please be aware that sometimes you may have to wait if the doctor/Minor Ailments Practitioner is running late.  If you have been waiting longer than 20 minutes please ask the Receptionist for an explanation.  

Remember, there are lots of reasons for the doctor/Minor Ailments Practitioner to be running late; a previous patient may have arrived late or brought several problems, someone may have required a longer appointment than expected - this is very common if a patient needs to be admitted to hospital and, very occasionally, the GP may have been called out on an urgent housecall.  

We would ask for your understanding and patience as such times.

Home Visits

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 019755 62253, preferably before 10:00.

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 give the Receptionist an indication of the problem, and the urgency, when you call to help enable the doctor to schedule house calls  

The doctors do their visits over lunchtime and we would ask you to try and avoid requesting a housecall in the afternoon unless it is urgent as the doctors are consulting.  Housecall requests are at the doctors discretion and for non urgent visits the GP may phone you to determine the nature of the problem and, if your usual GP is not available, the visit may be deferred to the next day when your usual doctor is available.

Remember we cover a very large area and 4 or more patients can be seen in the surgery in the time it takes to do one housecall.  It is not appropriate to request a housecall because you do not have transport to the surgery.

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.

Telephone Advice

Many problems can be dealt with over the phone and do not require a face to face consultation.  You may call the surgery anytime between 08:00 and 18:00 on 019755 62253 and ask for a call back from the Duty Doctor. 

A Receptionist will ask for your name, date of birth and a contact number that you can be reached at all day.  The Receptionist will also ask for a brief description of the reason for your call so that the Duty Doctor can prioritise their list of calls, eg chest pain, request for sick note, discuss hospital letter/medication.

If your call is regarding a request to be seen that day and no appointments are available you will be asked to give a brief description of the problem and be added to the Duty Doctor list. 

If your call is deemed to be urgent you may be passed to the Duty Doctor or any available doctor rather that waiting for a call back.  Please bear in mind that the doctors will not return phone calls during consulting times or when they are out on home visits. 

During these times the Receptionist will take your details and a phone number and the Duty Doctor will call you back as soon as possible.  If you phone late in the day, please be aware that the Duty Doctor may not be able to return your call that same day, unless you have made the Receptionist aware that the problem is urgent.

As a rule, we will generally not leave voicemail messages due to confidentiality.  

We will not give out results or disclose sensitive information to anyone other than the patient themselves unless the patient has explicitly given consent for a nominated person to receive their results.  

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).

Please note that hospital doctors can also issue a Fit Note to cover any time you have spent in hospital.

Training Practice                                            

Alford Medical Practice is a University of Aberdeen accredited teaching practice. This means that, from time to time, trainee nurses and doctors will be at the practice.  We believe in delivering excellent training to the young doctors and nurses of the future and you may therefore find a medical student sitting in on your consultation.  If you would prefer not to have the student in attendance then please let the Reception staff or the GP know.  

The medical students attending the practice are usually very senior and may be in their final few months before they become fully qualified doctors.  Many of these students have elected to come to the surgery because they want to be GP's.  An essential part of their training is to learn to practice independently.  

If you agree to see the student, you may find that you will be seen firstly by the medical student who will take a history from you and conduct any appropriate examination before calling the GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner through.  In these situations, you will always also be seen by the GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner and the GP/Minor Ailments Practitioner will be responsible for any medications that need to be prescribed.  

Please be aware that throughout their 6 week attachment students will have access to patient records and will often use information in records to perform a small research project which will be used only within the practice.  Should you prefer that the student does not have access to your records please inform Reception staff.

The GP responsible for medical student training is Dr Vorenkamp.

Protected Learning Time

Occasionally the practice will close on a Wednesday afternoon for staff training.  These closures will be advertised on the surgery door.  During these times urgent medical cover will be provided by NHS 24/GMED.  The dates of closure can be found in Opening Times under the NHS Public Holidays/Training tab.