GP Services

EMIS Acces

We now have a new system in place called “EMIS Access”. This is where Patients can book their appointments online. If you would be interested in this service please let our reception staff know and they will advise you on how to register.

Text Message Service

We now have a system in place where you will receive a text message to your mobile phone with a reminder for appointments. If you have not done so already please advise the reception staff of an up to date mobile number.

Message For GP

If you have a message you would like to pass onto your GP please contact our reception staff who will pass on your message. NO NEED TO BOOK APPOINTMENT FOR THIS.

Physiotherapist Appointments

We now have an Advance Practice Physiotherapist as part of the practice. If you have a muscle, bone or joint problem you can ask to make an appointment with our physio. instead of seeing the GP.

Learn To Self-Care

A large part of what we see in General Practice constitutes 'minor illness, such as sore throats, sickness and diarrhoea, coughs and colds.

It is not always necessary to ring and book for a doctor's appointment as many of these conditions will get better with appropriate self-care and advice.

You can get advice from NHS 24 website and also from your local Pharmacy who are best placed to treat minor illnesses.

Both will give you advice on how to treat common health problems.

NHS 24: Call Free on 111
NHS24 Website for medical advice: www.nhs24.com

Self-Refer When Possible

Patients with many different conditions can self-refer to the most appropriate service without needing to see a GP first. Examples are:

• Those with back, neck or joint pains who can self-refer to Physiotherapy (Please visit them directly on the ground floor in Springburn Health Centre)
• Those with stress, mild to moderate anxiety or depression who can self-refer to the Primary Mental Health team - Tel: 0141 342 3200
• Those with foot pain, needing foot care advice and treatment can self-refer to Podiatry - Tel: 0141 636 8421
• Alcohol and drug misuse? Self-refer to the community addiction team - Tel: 0141 276 4580

When Should You Call An Ambulance And Not Your GP?

An emergency is a critical or life-threatening situation.

To help you decide what a critical situation is, here are some examples:

• Unconsciousness
• A suspected stroke
• Heavy blood loss
• Suspected broken bones
• A deep wound such as a stab wound
• A suspected heart attack
• Difficulty in breathing
• Severe burns
• A severe allergic reaction

What should you do?

• Stay calm and telephone 999.
• Make sure they know where the ambulance has to come to, and they have some details about the person who is injured or ill.
• Don't give the person anything to eat, drink or smoke.
• Don't stick anything in their mouth.
• Follow the instructions the ambulance service call handler may give you.

Your Receptionist Is There To Help You

In order for us to prioritize requests for appointments, advice, phone calls and House calls it is essential that we have some information about why you are calling.

As such we directly ask our receptionists to gather some basic information for us which they record confidentially in a ‘note’ for the GP to read before calling back. Please do not be either offended or annoyed if the receptionist asks you for information. They are doing this under our direct Instruction and do so - so as to ensure we prioritize the work for the day in terms of urgency.

Our Receptionists are bound by rules of confidentiality and we can assure you - they do not and will not discuss your records or any of your private information out with your medical record.

The information you tell them will be passed on to your Doctor and absolutely no-one else.

What Is An Urgent GP Appointment?

Each weekday, the practice sets aside urgent consulting slots for patients who have not booked a routine appointments, but need to be seen that day on clinical grounds.

It may be that your condition has suddenly become worse or has deteriorated over time - but still does not appear to be so severe that it requires to be dealt with as an emergency requiring attention at the hospital.

However on occasion, patients attend their GP and the doctor judges that the patient needs to be transferred urgently to hospital.

Where patients are unsure - they may discuss the matter with the practice. Alternatively, NHS 24 is a source of advice and information  - Freephone: 111.

Please do not request urgent appointments if you are unhappy about not having an appointment. If you are unhappy about the system, please ask to speak to the Practice Manager. Patients who inappropriately request an urgent GP Call Back will be advised as such.

All House Call Requests Should Be Called Before 10.30am.

It may be that a GP decides that you need admission, investigation or other services to attend you at home- and these services are accessible during the day but not always available in the afternoon or evenings.

Just a reminder that we will only carry out home visits to those patients who are bed-bound or terminally ill.

Housebound patients do not automatically qualify for a home visit as transport can often be arranged with friends, family and other services. We have a duty to use our resources for the benefit of all our patients.

Other medical complaints should be assessed in the surgery. This includes children who should always be bought in unless there are extenuating circumstances which will be discussed by your GP.

If you request a House Call this will be passed to the GP who will contact you by phone to discuss this. The GP will make the decision as to whether a house call is appropriate or not.

There have been a significant number of occasions where patients have requested house calls unnecessarily due to poor weather, transport issues or non-urgent matters. This is of concern as it takes Doctors away from those patients who genuinely need urgent care. As such please use the services appropriately.

Prescription requests can be made by handing in a request form to our Reception, by emailing your request to prescriptions.gp43504@nhs.scot or by selecting Option 3 when calling our surgery on 0141 648 1558.

Receptionists are unable to process prescriptions over the phone and will direct you back to the above options.

Nominated Chemist

If you would like your prescriptions to be sent to your local pharmacy to save you coming to collect, then please inform our receptionists who will advise you on this. Local Pharmacies collect prescriptions for us on a regular basis.

Requesting Painkillers or Antibiotics

Unless these medications already exist on your repeat Prescription – these types of medication will not be provided without a GP assessment.

If you require painkillers on a regular basis, this should be included on your repeat prescription by a GP upon seeing you in surgery, and a date will be agreed for you to be seen again to review use of this medication.

If you feel that you need an antibiotic, this again cannot be requested and should be discussed with a GP in an appointment.

Please do not phone up and request these medications to be left.

Also remember that if you require painkillers short term for a Minor illness then your local Pharmacist (and not your GP) should be your first Port of call.

Flu Clinics

Please be advised, GP surgeries are no longer responsible for administering Flu Vaccines.

If you’re entitled to a vaccine the Healthboard will be in contact with you directly.

More about the vaccine

Flu vaccination is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.

Flu can be unpleasant, but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own within a week.

However, flu can be more severe in certain people, such as:

• anyone aged 65 and over
• pregnant women
• children and adults with an underlying
• health condition (such as long-term heart or respiratory disease)
• children and adults with weakened immune systems

Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it's recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.

The injected flu vaccine is offered free on the NHS annually to:

• adults over the age of 18 at risk of flu (including everyone aged 65 and over)
• pregnant women
• children aged 6 months to 2 years at risk of flu

Flu nasal spray vaccination

The flu vaccine is routinely given on the NHS as an annual nasal spray to:

• children aged 2 and 3 plus children in primary school
• children aged 2 to 17 years at a particular risk of flu

How effective is the flu jab?

Flu vaccine is the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause unpleasant illness in children and severe illness and death among at-risk groups, including older people, pregnant women and those with an underlying medical health condition.

Studies have shown that the flu jab will help prevent you getting the flu. It won't stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary, so it's not a 100% guarantee that you'll be flu-free, but if you do get flu after vaccination it's likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

There is also evidence to suggest that the flu jab can reduce your risk of having a stroke.
Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change. So new flu vaccines are produced each year which is why people advised to have the flu jab need it every year too.

Flu jab side effects?

Serious side effects of the injected flu vaccine are very rare.

You may have a mild fever and aching muscles for a couple of days after having the jab, and your arm may be a bit sore where you were injected.

When to have a flu jab?

The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, from the beginning of October to early November, but don't worry if you've missed it, you can have the vaccine later in winter up until mid February

Is there anyone who shouldn't have the flu jab?

Most adults can have the injected flu vaccine, but you should avoid it if you have had a serious allergic reaction to a flu jab in the past.

GP Registrars

For the past few years our surgery has taken an active role in the training of doctors specialising in general practice.

Two of our Partners are accredited GP trainers and all Partners take an active role in training the Registrars.

As part of our commitment to education and training we usually have GP Registrars working within the practice. These are doctors with considerable experience who are reaching the end of their specialist training in general practice. They typically spend a year in the practice and function much as the other doctors here, whilst under the supervision of their GP trainer.

From time to time our Registrars are asked to do video consultations for the purposes of training and we really appreciate your cooperation in this important part of their education. Our receptionists will always let you know if your consultation is to be taped and you are free to decline consent.

We have been fortunate to date in having excellent doctors placed with us, and some of our old Registrars are now working as GPs in the area.

We feel that both our practice and our patients benefit considerably from their commitment and enthusiasm.

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland is an NHS service provided by your local community pharmacy.

If you have a minor illness, a pharmacy is the first place you should go for advice.

You do not usually need an appointment and you can go to any pharmacy.

Your local pharmacist or a trained member of the pharmacy team will give you advice and provide medicine if needed. They may need to refer you to another healthcare professional such as your GP practice, dentist, optometrist or another NHS service if they feel your condition needs further investigation or more specialist care.

Who can use NHS Pharmacy First Scotland?

You can use NHS Pharmacy First Scotland if you are registered with a GP practice in Scotland or you live in Scotland.

Speak to the pharmacy team if you need more details.

How does the service work?

Pharmacists and their teams are experts in medicines and can help with minor health concerns.

A pharmacist, or a member of the pharmacy team, can give you advice and treatment (if you need it) for various minor illnesses and common clinical conditions.

Your pharmacist can advise you about conditions such as:

• Acne
• Allergies
• Athlete's foot
• Backache
• Blocked or runny nose
• Cold sores
• Constipation
• Cough
• Cystitis (in women)
• Diarrhoea
• Earache
• Eczema
• Headache
• Headlice
• Haemorrhoids (piles)
• Hay fever
• Impetigo
• Indigestion
• Mouth ulcers
• Pain
• Period pain
• Shingles
• Some skin conditions such as cellulitis or insect bites
• Sore throat
• Threadworms
• Thrush
• Urinary tract infections (UTI's)
• Verrucas
• Warts

Pharmacists, like GPs, can only provide certain medicines and products on the NHS. All of these are proven to be effective in treating your condition.

If you want a specific medicine or product, you may need to buy it. The pharmacist will give you advice on this.

Some pharmacists have an additional prescribing qualification which allows them to prescribe a wider range of medicines, normally only available from your GP practice.

If the pharmacist, or a member of their team, thinks it is better for you to see your GP or another healthcare professional, they may refer you directly or tell you to make an appointment.

How do I use the service?

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland is available from all pharmacies in Scotland that dispense NHS prescriptions.

You can choose which pharmacy to use.

In most cases, you don’t have to make an appointment.
When you visit the pharmacy, the pharmacist (or one of their team) will ask you for some information, including your name, date of birth and postcode.

The pharmacist, or a member of their team, will:

• ask you about your symptoms
• give you advice on your condition
• provide medication (if you need it)
• refer you to another healthcare professional (for example, your GP) if they think this is necessary
• set up a Patient Medication Record (PMR) to make a note of any advice and treatment they give you

You can ask to use the pharmacy’s consultation area or room if you want to speak to the pharmacist in private.

Can I still go to other pharmacies?

You can go to any pharmacy to buy medicines, collect prescriptions or use the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service. You don’t need to always use the same one.

However, if you always use the same pharmacy, the pharmacist can build a record of your treatment, which may help you to manage your condition more effectively. This record is not shared with anyone else.

What if I’m unhappy with the service I have received from the pharmacy?

Talk to the pharmacist so they can try to sort the matter out immediately. Most pharmacies have their own complaints procedures. If you’d like to make a complaint, please contact the pharmacy manager in the first instance.

If you can’t do this, or if you have already spoken to your pharmacist and are still unhappy, you can contact the feedback and complaints team at your local NHS health board.

Pharmacies are working with GP practices to help people get their medicines at the best time for them.

If you are prescribed regular repeat medicines you may be able to have a 'serial prescription', if your doctor thinks this is suitable for you.

A serial prescription means that you can get your repeat medicines straight from a pharmacy without having to order a prescription from your doctor beforehand.

What does this mean for me?

Your doctor or pharmacist may suggest that you are suitable for a serial prescription. Your doctor can then give you a serial prescription which is valid for 6 or 12 months. This means you won't need to order your medicines from your GP practice during that time. Instead your community pharmacist will keep the serial prescription and supply your medicines, usually each month or every second month, depending on your doctor's wishes.

Your doctor may decide that not all of your medicines can be supplied on a serial prescription. If that is the case you will have to order these items from your GP practice when you need them.

What happens if my medicines change?

Your doctor will tell the pharmacy that your medicine has changed. The pharmacist will speak to you to check that you understand the changes and what you need to do.

What happens when my serial prescription is due to run out?

The pharmacist will ask you to sign the back of the current serial prescription form. They will then contact your doctor to ask for a new serial prescription. Your doctor may need you to make an appointment for a check-up before they issue the next serial prescription.

Can I use other pharmacies?

If you have a serial prescription you will need to collect your medicines from the pharmacy you are registered with for the Medicines: Care and Review service. However, you can go to other pharmacies for other prescriptions, to buy medicine or to get advice.

Who can I contact for more information?

If you have any questions, please speak to the pharmacist.