Welcome to West End Medical Practice
Christmas and New Year HolidaysThe Practice will be closed for the Christmas and New Year Holidays during the following periods 27th December 2021 28th December 2021 3rd January 2022 4th January 2022 We will be operating as normal all other weekdays. Repeat Prescription Ordering?There is always a major surge of prescription requests approaching the festive period, as well as the ongoing need for medications during the winter season. As a result the practice advises our patients to order your prescriptions at the earliest time possible. This will help all our patients over this period. Have You Run Out of Medications?If you have run out of your medications please contact your pharmacist in the first instance. Your pharmacy can issue most medications on an emergency basis. After that please make a request for your medications from the Practice website. Online Repeat Prescriptions Due to increased Covid 19 demands on the surgery and the local pharmacies the method or ordering repeat prescriptions will be enhanced. All new and existing patients will need to register for the new service. All patients must have a valid email address for this new service and is used solely by you or your representative. Please click on this link to register for the new service. New Repeat Prescription Ordering Registration Service Covid 19 Vaccination Passports The Scottish Government is working to support the re-opening of international travel once it is safe to do so. It is also working with the other UK Nations and with the World Health Organisation to agree on potential future COVID certification requirements for international travel. Please check the COVID FAQs on the NHS Lothian website if you wish to find out more information. Change of address It is very important that we hold a correct address and telephone number for you. If either of these changes, please notify us. Please click on the link below to complete the change of address form. AstraZeneca Vaccine News Q: I am concerned about the safety of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine and blood clots? A: Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon. More than 11m doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine have been given in the UK; the number of blood clots that have been reported after vaccination are not more than would have been normally expected in that time frame. The UK medicines regulatory authority (MHRA) is carefully scrutinising the reports of blood clots in the UK as well as the international data. The view of the MHRA experts is that the available evidence does not suggest the vaccine is the cause. Some countries have taken a highly precautionary approach and have temporarily suspended the use of the vaccine whilst they investigate. Any suspension of vaccine has to be balanced against the know risks of Covid which is a serious disease, can be fatal, and itself can cause blood clots. Therefore the MHRA experts recommend that people should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so. National Cov19 Vaccination Programme You should contact NHS Scotland if you think you should have received an invitation to your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination appointment by now, or if you have lost your invitation letter. You can do this by phone or by completing an online form. The Form and details can be found by clicking on this https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/invitations-and-appointments/missing-appointment-details West End Medical Practice Surgery Times The surgery is open during the following times Monday to Friday, excluding bank and public holidays , between 08:00 and 18:00 There is a reduced telephone answering service between 13:00 and 14:00. West End Medical Pharmacy News Local pharmacies continue to be open during the current restrictions. Please contact them direct for local opening days and times. A list of the local pharmacies can be found here Local Pharmacies. The Doctors, Nurses, Administration and Practice team thank you for your continued support during these difficult and challenging times. |
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CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
LATEST NHS GUIDANCE – IF YOU HAVE A COUGH AND OR A TEMPERATURE PLEASE STAY AT HOME AND ISOLATE FOR 7 DAYS, DO NOT ATTEND THE SURGERY OR CONTACT NHS UNLESS YOUR SYMPTOMS HAVE WORSENED OR EXTEND PAST THE 7 DAYS.
PLEASE VISIT WWW.NHSINFORM.SCOT/CORONAVIRUS FOR FULL INFORMATION
Due to the current coronavirus situation, to ensure patient safety, the way we normally offer appointments has changed.
Open access surgery is now a thing of the past. All consultations with a GP are now conducted as a telephone triage in the first instance and the GP will then decide if it is something we can deal with over the phone, or if it is necessary to either see you in surgery or arrange a video call.
- Please do not come to the surgery if you have symptoms of coronavirus or may have been exposed.
- For all routine non emergency queries please call the surgery after 8.30am any weekday morning, there are a limited number of calls each day so you may be asked to call back another morning.
- Once all routine calls are taken the Dr’s will only deal with emergency phone requests for the rest of the day.
- Nursing appointments and phlebotomy will also operate on a triage service, but patients should not attend if feeling unwell or have any cough/flu like symptoms.
- Please help us to keep our community safe. We are trying to minimise unnecessary trips to the surgery to protect both patients and staff. Please attend your appointment alone where possible and face coverings should be worn at all times.
- We will only accept requests for prescriptions using the online repeat medication ordering service leaving plenty of time for routine prescriptions.
- Housebound patients may still request home visits for urgent care and these will also be triaged by the Dr, we ask where possible these are requested as early as possible, preferable before 9.00am.
- The situation is constantly updating and further changes may need to be made in light of developments. We will endeavor to keep you updated on these. Please be patient and kind to our reception staff during this time. They are doing their best under enormous pressure.
Thank you for your understanding during these unprecedented times.
With patients’ needs at the heart of everything we do, our website has been designed to make it easy for you to gain instant access to the information you need. You’ll find a wealth of useful information covering a wide range of health issues along with links to other relevant helpful organisations.
The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients and NHS staff while also ensuring services are available to the public as normal.
NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do at nhsinform.scot
Use this service if:
- you think you might have coronavirus
- in the last 14 days you’ve been to a country or area with a high risk of coronavirus – see coronavirus advice for travelers and a list of high risk countries on nhs.uk
- you’ve been in close contact with someone with coronavirus
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay indoors and avoid close contact with other people. Call 111 if you need to speak to someone.
In Scotland call your GP or NHS 24 on 111 out of hours.
- Scotland visit nhsinform.scot
Further information and details of how to self-isolate are available on nhs.uk.
Out of hours
Getting a Doctor out of normal surgery hours:
Telephone NHS 24 on 111
In an emergency call 999
Minor Injuries Unit
The Minor Injuries Unit at the Western General Hospital:
Open seven days a week from 9.00am to 9.00pm.
No appointment is necessary.
www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Doctors
Partners
Dr Dean G Pope MBChB (Edinburgh) 1986, DRCOG, FRCGP
Dr Kirsten Macdonald MBChB (Aberdeen) 1991, DRCOG, DFFP, MRCGP
Dr Catherine Smith MBChB (Glasgow) 2003, DRCOG, DFFP, MRCGP
Dr Rory O’Conaire BSc, MBChB (Aberdeen) 2005, MRCGP
Salaried GP
Dr Emily Schofield
Dr Emily Beirne
Dr Claire Reeve
GP Registrars
Dr Nicole Machnikowski
Clinics & Services
Pharmacy, Community Physiotherapy, Community Nursing, Community Mental Health, Dietetics, Chiropody, Dental Services, Radiology and a range of consultant clinics.
Change of Address
It is very important that we hold a correct address and telephone number for you. If either of these changes, please notify us. You may change your address by notifying the Practice in writing and we would ask that you provide a valid proof of your new address with this information. Acceptable proof of address should be a recent council tax bill, recent utility bill, television license or an in-date lease or rental agreement.
Register with our practice
The practice is now accepting emergency patients only. Information regarding all surgeries in your area can be obtained from NHS24 at www.nhs24.com or by telephoning the Health Authority Enquiries on 0800224488.
Repeat Prescriptions
Our patients are able to order repeat prescription items online. These items are listed on the right hand side of your repeat prescription computer slip.
Agree to the Practice Contacting you by Email
The Practice is considering new ways of contacting patients in order to decrease reliance on paper-based systems. To this end we would like to start collecting accurate email addresses for patients so that we may correspond in that way. We would like to make patients aware however that anything we send from the Lothian Network to a web-based address is no longer considered strictly secure. The sort of correspondence we would use email for would be routine recall letters and not sensitive health information, unless with the explicit consent of the patient.
If you would like to provide us with consent to contact you via email, please complete the consent form.
