GP appointments

All bookable GP appointments are currently for 10 minute telephone consultations in the first instance. If the GP feels that a face to face appointment at the surgery is clinically required, this will be arranged.

Prebookable appointments

A range of appointments can be booked up to 2 weeks in advance via reception. Please speak to a Patient Advisor who will ask you for more information in order to arrange for you to be offered a suitable appointment. You will be given an approximate appointment time but you should expect the clinician to call at any time that morning or afternoon, depending on when your appointment is. You will be told if your appointment is for a face to face consultation. Please give the Patient Advisor as much information as possible about your problem or query, to enable them to arrange for you to see or speak to the most appropriate person for your problem.

On the day appointments

These are allocated on a first-come-first served basis and are for urgent problems only. We would recommend calling early to secure an appointment, our phone lines open at 8am. You may be asked to call back on another day if all the appointments for that day are taken by the time you call. For telephone appointments, you will be given an approximate appointment time but you should expect the GP to call at any time that morning or afternoon, depending on when your appointment is.

Sending photos by email

Patients may send photographs to our dedicated and secure email inbox. Please note that photos should only be emailed if you have been asked to send a photo by the GP or nurse OR if you have already booked a telephone appointment to discuss your photo(s).

Digital images will be saved to your electronic medical record and nowhere else. We will not share the images with anyone other than clinicians directly involved in your care for any reason.

We are not able to respond to questions or queries by email, any queries should be dealt with by phoning the surgery as normal.

Please follow these instructions to ensure you send the best images:

1. We only need one or two good quality images of the area concerned.
2. Make sure the image is in focus and brightly lit. If the image is blurred, we will be unable to view it adequately.
3. Place something in the picture for scale e.g. a ruler, a stamp or a coin. This allows the GP or nurse to see what size things are.
4. If you have been asked to send in a photo of the back of your throat, please follow the instructions in this video to get the best image.
5. Choose the smallest file size possible when attaching the photographs to your email. Our server struggles to manage large files.
6. Put the patient’s name and date of birth in the email heading. We do not require any further text in the email.
7. Telephone the surgery and advise the Patient Advisor who answers your call that you wish to send photos for the GP to look at. They will ask for your email address and an email will then be sent to you from the practice. Please reply directly to this email, attaching your photos.

If you do not receive an automatic email acknowledgement within 24 hours please telephone the surgery to confirm that your images have been received.

Nurse appointments

Most appointments with the practice nurse are booked in advance. At present, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our nurses are carrying out the majority of consultations by telephone. Some patients will need to be seen at the surgery e.g. for complicated dressings or some injections that cannot safely be postponed and we have arrangements in place to minimise the risk to patient and healthcare professional should a face to face appointment be necessary. Please speak to a Patient Advisor at reception who will assist you.

Home Visits

Home visits during coronavirus pandemic

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, GPs have been advised only to visit patients at home where there is no safe alternative means of adequately assessing the patient. This is to reduce the risk of the patient, their household members and the GP being exposed to a potentially life-threatening coronavirus infection.

Where a home visit is requested, a Patient Advisor at reception will take your details and the GP will phone you back.

If you think you need a home visit

Please telephone the surgery before 10am if you think you may require a home visit. A clinician (doctor or nurse) may phone you back to ask for more details to allow them to decide how your problem can be best dealt with. This may mean giving advice or a prescription over the telephone, arranging for a video consultation (see below), arranging for the nurse to visit, organising for a GP to visit that day (or on another day) or arranging for an assessment by paramedics or at the hospital.

We have almost 5500 patients registered with the practice and GP appointments are in extremely high demand. Up to 6 patient consultations can be carried out at the surgery in the time required for a single home visit. Home visits can only be made available for patients who are truly housebound through illness or disability and where there is no other safe means of adequately assessing the patient.

If a face to face assessment is felt to be essential, we very much appreciate patients making the effort to come to the surgery to see the GP if they can. We will try to offer appointment times to accommodate patients who need relatives or others to bring them to the surgery.

As a rule we do not offer home visits for children – it is far safer for unwell children to be assessed either by paramedics at home if they are extremely unwell, or assessed by the GP using video link (see below), or face to face the GP surgery where we have emergency equipment if required.

Video consultations

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, GPs have been advised not to invite patients into the surgery or to visit patients at home unless absolutely necessary. At present our nurses and GPs are carrying out most consultations by phone where it is safe to do so. We have the option to switch to a video consultation if necessary and the GP or nurse will advise you during the call if this would be helpful. Video consultation can enable the nurse or GP to fully assess the patient without having to expose the patient or healthcare professional to potential coronavirus infection.

Video calls are carried out using a system called Attend Anywhere. We would recommend that all patients check in advance to make sure they are able to access this system, in case a video consultation is required in the future. You will need an internet enabled smartphone, tablet, laptop or a desktop computer with webcam connected

Click here for step by step instructions to check that you can access our online waiting room. DO NOT start a video call unless you are asked to during a telephone consultation with the nurse or GP.

Will I be able to speak to a GP on the same day by phone if necessary?

In some cases, the “duty doctor” may be able to call you back on the same day. Examples of where this might be appropriate include:

• If you are requesting a home visit.
• Sick lines due to be renewed.
• Urinary tract infections (UTI) in adults who are not suitable for the “pharmacy first” service. Please check with your chemist before contacting the surgery if you think you have a UTI.
• Where you have received a letter asking you to speak to a GP urgently.
• Where your problem is very urgent and there are no GP appointments left for that day.

Reception staff will ask for specific information about the reason for your call. Please help them to help you – without detailed information it is impossible for the duty doctor to prioritise your call or to direct you to the best service to deal with your problem.

What other options do I have, rather than waiting to see or speak to a GP?

The following services are also available:

• Your local Pharmacist can help with many minor ailments (see list on poster in reception).
• Your local Optometrist can help with most eye problems.
• Your local Dentist (or the Dental Hospital) can deal with all dental problems (Please note that GPs are not insured or trained to assess or treat any dental problems).
• Our Link Worker can help with a wide range of issues – please book at reception.
• Our Practice Pharmacist can help with most medication queries – please contact reception.
• Our Practice Physiotherapist can see and treat patients with most back and joint problems, including recent sprains or other minor injuries – please book at reception.
• The Podiatry service can deal with most foot problems – telephone 0141 347 8909 or email AHP.Appointments@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
• Minor injury units at the Royal Alexandria Hospital, Vale of Leven Hospital, New Stobhill Hospital, New Victoria Hospital can assess and treat minor injuries and/or arrange for you to be transferred elsewhere if the issue is more serious.