Book an Appointment

Can another Healthcare Professional help?

Do you need to see the GP?
Sometimes the GP is not the most appropriate Healthcare Professional to deal with your ailment. Please see the information on see a Doctor or Healthcare Professional, which might help you decide whether a GP appointment is truly necessary or whether it might be better for you to see a Pharmacist, Optician, Dentist or other Healthcare Professional. You can even self-refer for some services without seeing your GP.

For real life-threatening emergencies such as those below – RING 999

  • Chest pain (suspected heart attack)
  • Suspected stroke
  • Suspected meningitis
  • Anaphylactic shock (severe allergy)
  • Heavy bleeding or deep lacerations
  • Fluctuating levels of consciousness or completely unconscious
  • Difficulty breathing or stopped breathing with a change in colour
  • New seizure, fit or uncontrollable shaking

For immediately serious conditions such as the following, GO TO Emergency Department (A&E) IMMEDIATELY

  • A fever and lethargic (drowsy) child
  • A feverish and floppy (unresponsive) infant
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Sudden, severe abdominal pain
  • Accidental or intentional overdose of medication
  • Trauma (including falls) and possible broken bones or road traffic accident

Patients who have a problem outwith the surgery opening hours that can’t wait until the surgery reopens should contact NHS24 by dialling 111.

Appointments System

Please contact the practice on 0345 013 0740 and go through option 2 for Old Aberdeen Patients and then choose Option 1 for Care Navigation for all medical concerns.

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Your appointment at the Practice

Please help us

It is important that you inform the reception staff if you are unable to attend your appointment, this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient. If you fail to notify the Practice that you are unable to attend, you will be sent a letter informing you that you have defaulted from your appointment. Persistent defaulters maybe removed from the list.

You can also complete our appointment cancellation notification request form. This can only be used if your appointment has been arranged for more than 24 hours in advance. (excluding weekends and public holidays).

Appointments

Patients with no internet access

This is how it works:

  1. Call us on the main surgery telephone number and ask to make an appointment with the doctor.
  2. One of our call handling team members will ask you for your name and telephone number and a brief description of your medical concern. If you need to speak to the doctor urgently, because it’s an emergency, tell them straightaway.
  3. The call handler will triage your call by asking you a series of questions
  4. If you refuse to give a brief description of your medical concern then we will be unable to triage you.
  5. You will be offered the appropriate care – this may be a telephone consultation, a face to face or direction to another service.
  6. The clinician will call you two times for a telephone consultation – if you do not answer your phone then you will need to rebook for another day.
Telephone consultations

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.

Additional information

Can I bring someone to accompany me to the Appointment?

We are generally very happy for patients to bring with them a carer, relative or even a friend. This often helps, particularly when they know you well and it allows them to tell us any observations they would make about you, which can help us in undertaking our assessment. Ultimately this will lead us more quickly to make an accurate diagnosis and therefore help you more.

Also, having someone with you means they can prompt you to ask questions that you may have forgotten, and after the appointment they can help in reminding you what was discussed.

Occasionally we might ask for them to leave but this would be unusual.

If you require interpretation services please contact us in advance of you appointment and we will arrange this.

If you have a suspected infectious disease

Please inform reception if you suspect an infectious disease, as this will enable us to deal with it appropriately during your visit to protect you, other patients and staff. 

Giving Consent for Treatment

You have the right to accept or refuse treatment that is offered to you, and not to be given any physical examination or treatment unless you have given valid consent. If you do not have the capacity to do so, consent must be obtained from a person legally able to act on your behalf, or the treatment must be in your best interests.

Your valid consent (agreement to the course of action) is needed for the treatment that’s offered to you before any physical examinations or treatment can be given. If you haven’t given your consent, you can accept or refuse treatment that’s offered to you.

It’s important to be involved in decisions about your treatment and to be given information to help you choose the right treatment. When making treatment choices, you’ll often discuss the options with your doctor or another healthcare professional.

Training Practice

Nursing students attend the practice from time to time and we hope that you will co-operate with us and help the students to learn about general practice.

You will be informed of their presence in advance, and if you do not want them to be present at a consultation, your wishes will be respected. This will not affect your treatment in any way.

Questions & Answers
  • Why is the surgery offering telephone appointments?

You have told us that sometimes you find it frustrating and difficult to get the appointment you need, when you need it.

Many people don’t need to come into the surgery to be seen at all; their problem can be dealt with via telephone. This gives your doctor more time to see those people that need appointments in the surgery. And, because your doctor is the one making the appointments, he or she can judge how much time you might need and give you a long or short appointment. This helps appointments to run to time and means you’re more likely to be seen on time. We also know that when people make an appointment close to the date that they call, they are more likely to keep the appointment.

  • What do I do if I need an emergency appointment?

Telephone the main surgery number and tell the receptionist that your health problem is urgent. He or she will ask a clinician to call back as soon as possible. If all of the clinicians are busy, the receptionist will make sure you are called back as soon as possible

  • Can I still telephone to make an appointment for a home visit?

When you speak to the receptionist plesae ask for a home visit. If, after to speaking to you, the clinician thinks you need to be seen at home, he or she will arrange this.

  • Are telephone appointments safe?

During your call with the clinician, he or she will ask questions to help them make a decision about whether you need to be seen in person or not. For example, if your clinician needs to look at something or examine you, you will be asked to either come into the surgery for the appointment or conduct a consultatioin via video. If your clinician thinks you need to be seen he or she will always ask you to come in to the surgery.

  • What happens if I have trouble using the telephone?

If you have difficulty using a telephone you can still come in to the surgery to book an appointment. You will be added to the doctors list and they will book your appointment or advise you in the same way.

  • Can I still book an appointment for next week or next month?

At present the practice runs an on the day service.

  • I’m not comfortable telling the receptionist what is wrong, do I have to?

Knowing what your health problem is generally helps the staff at the surgery to make sure those people with more urgent problems are seen quickly.

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.