Noticeboard

SPIRE

On 7th March 2017, a national campaign will launch to introduce SPIRE to the public and explain what it means for Patients. NHS Scotland is improving the way it uses information from GP patient records. Please see the SPIRE page for more information and links to the SPIRE website. 

Shingles Vaccination

 The shingles vaccination programme for 2016/17 has recently been announced. The programme is principally aimed at 

  • People aged 70 years (routine)
  • People aged 76 years (catch-up)
  • People aged 77 & 78 years (continuing catch up from 2015/16

If you were previously eligible and did not take up the offer of vaccination, you can still be vaccinated. This includes people aged 71 - 73 (inclusive) and those aged 79. People aged 74 & 75 years will be vaccinated in future programmes. 

New NHS 24 Number

111, the NEW, free number for NHS 24.

Evenings and Weekends  

Out of hours medical care is organised by NHS Borders. If you require urgent medical advice or attention out of hours (between 6.00 pm and 8.00 am Monday to Friday and 6.00 pm Friday to 8.00 am Monday) please telephone  NHS 24 on 111.

Test Results

We would ask that you check the results of any blood tests by ringing the surgery between 2.00 and 4.00 pm. Most blood and urine results take one week to come back and be interpreted by the doctor. Some blood tests results may take up to four weeks if they involve more complicated analysis. If you need to book a test, please phone (01361) 883373. 

Cancelling your Appointment

If you are unable to attend an appointment with one of the doctors or nurses, please telephone or use the link at the bottom of this page to cancel your appointment.

 

Care Navigation

Due to increased pressures over winter, we have started to implement Care Navigation, initially for on the day appointments. This is a project we have been working on for some time in line with many other practices across the country.

Care Navigation means we are training our receptionists and clerical staff to help them help our patients by identifying the most appropriate place for their care. Through this specialist training, our team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate health clinician for your needs first.

There are many more services available in practices now, many of which are not known to patients, for example we have a practice based pharmacist and a first contact physiotherapist offering appointments on a weekly basis.

Our reception staff will never offer clinical advice or triage; this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see a more appropriate health professional in the practice team or even somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker for you and means you may not need to see the GP at all.

By working this way, it helps free up time for GPs to care for patients with more complex or serious conditions that can only be managed by the GP. More importantly though it means people are seen first by the clinician that is best placed to manage their clinical problem.

The choice is always yours though and you will never be refused a GP appointment, but we hope next time you contact your GP and speak with the receptionist you will see the value of seeing another health professional if they are able to help.

The conversations you have with our reception team are treated in the strictest confidence. All members of the practice team are bound by the same confidentiality and code of conduct rules that apply to GPs. 

Please click on this link to see our helpful poster about the various services in our area Finding Your Way

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