Appointments

Cancellations

It is most important that you contact us as soon as you realise you cannot attend a booked appointment. This allows us to be able to offer your appointment time to another patient.

GP Appointments

Due to a national shortage of GPs, the Practice has decided to have an open access surgery Monday to Friday from 8am to 9.45am.

This is a drop in surgery at Wallacetown Health Centre - no appointment is necessary. It is open to Patients registered at Wallacetown Health Centre and Douglas Medical Centre. As a general rule, there will be no GP appointments available at Douglas Medical Centre for the foreseeable future.

If an afternoon GP appointment is required please telephone our reception staff on 01382 459519 for Wallacetown, or 01382 480330 for Douglas Medical Centre.

Please remember that if you wish other members of your family to be seen you must book separate appointments.

Pre-bookable appointments

We now offer a number of pre-bookable appointments which are available at set times throughout the day.

Appointments outside normal practice hours

If, for any reason, it is easier for you to attend the surgery outwith normal practice hours, we have an extended hours surgery which runs every morning from 7.30am up to 8.30am.

These appointments can be pre booked via reception.

Patients based at Wallacetown Health Centre and Douglas Medical Centre are welcome to book these appointments.

Emergencies have priority at all times. The duty doctor for the day will be able to help you.

Telephone Consultations

It is now not always possible to speak to a GP on the phone especially regarding routine matters.

It is much easier to see a GP face to face in the open access surgery which runs every day.

If you receive a letter to call in regarding a test result, you will be added to the next available routine results call back slot on the GPs screen. This may not be for a call back the same day.

Private Treatment

Please note that if you have had a procedure or treatment done outwith the NHS and follow up treatment is required in relation to this, then it must be done by the private provider and not your GP.

Practice Nurses

The practice Nursing Staff offer a full range of nursing services to our patients. Appointments can be made through the Receptionist for dressings, removal of sutures, foreign travel advice, immunisations, etc.

Our Nurses have a particular interest in chronic disease management (asthma, diabetes, heart, blood pressure) and well person preventative care and would be happy to discuss this with you.

Appointments for the Practice Nurse are available daily between 08.30 - 12.15 and 14.00 -17.15. When making an appointment with the Practice Nurse, you may be asked to give an indication as to why you are attending in order for you to be appointed with the most appropriate Nurse.

Blood Tests

Wallacetown Health Centre

If you are requested to supply us with a blood sample, and you are a Wallacetown patient, the Practice Nurse uns a clinic every Monday to Friday between 9-10am.You are not required to make an appointment for this service.

Douglas Medical Centre

If you are a Douglas patient and are asked to supply us with a blood sample, please call the reception desk and you will be given a time to attend.

Samples

If you are required to hand in a sample for testing at the laboratories in Ninewells, then these must be handed in to the practice before 12.00 at the latest as they are picked only once a day at this time and samples can spoil if left to sit overnight. 

Travel Advice

Please see clinics and services for travel advice page.

Private Treatments

If you require to have any follow up blood tests or removal of stitches etc. following a procedure that has been carried out privately (not under NHS care), then this must be carried out by the organisation where the procedure was performed.

Appointment Arrangements

As you will be aware from both local and national press, general practice is under increasing pressure from the high demand on our services. The reasons for the increased demand are many and varied but the effects are concerning, and you will be aware of practices closing lists and being unable to replace doctors as a consequence of this.

In an effort to protect our practice and its staff and to continue to provide a prompt and high standard of service, we have implemented the following procedures in our Practice;

We have taken the difficult decision to not offer routine GP appointments at Wallacetown Health Centre or Douglas Medical Centre in the morning. 

We now run an open access surgery every morning at Wallacetown Health Centre. If you wish to see a GP them you can drop in to Wallacetown Health Centre between 8am and 9.45am Monday - Friday and you will be seen. This is open to Patients based at both Wallacetown Health Centre and Douglas Medical Centre. 

The surgery will operate on a first come, first seen basis.  You do not have to phone in to access this surgery.

There will be GP appointments available to book in the afternoons at both sites.

Douglas Medical Centre will continue to be open from 8am-6pm. You can still hand in prescription requests into Douglas and the prescription will be ready after 48 hours as usual.

If a routine appointment required by yourself or indicated in a letter you have received is required and you cannot attend the open access surgery, you will be offered a booked appointment for an afternoon appointment at a later date.

If you feel you must be seen that day, we will take your details and pass them to a GP who will call you back (usually in the afternoon) and may give you a time to come in to see them in the afternoon. This is entirely the GPs decision, not reception.

There will unfortunately be reduced GP telephone availability.

The GP will not normally call a Patient back regarding a prescription request, an insurance certificate or to discuss test results.

Prescriptions should be ordered in the correct manner i.e. at the reception desk or via our practice website.

Insurance certificates, letters from the Doctor etc. should be requested at reception, they will then pass any such requests on to the GP. Insurance certificates will usually be ready in 48 working hours.

You will not routinely receive a call from the GP regarding results. If you receive a letter from the GP asking you to telephone the Doctor to discuss results, you will be given the next available routine results slot. If however, you wish to discuss the result with the GP e.g. you are still having symptoms or are concerned, your number will be taken and you will get a call from the GP, but this will not necessarily be on the same day you called.

Nurse Appointments will continue to run as normal.

We thank you for your patience during these testing times and welcome any comments in the boxes provided at reception on both our sites.         

Home Visits

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice.

Please try to call the surgery before 10am to request a home visit, 01382 459519 for Wallacetown Health Centre and  01382 480330 for Douglas Medical Centre. Any home visits requests after 11am should be for emergencies only.

The Receptionist will ask you if you consider your home visit to be an emergency and if so, you will be put straight through to the duty Doctor. If the home visit is less urgent you will be asked for your address to check that we hold your correct details on file and we will take a telephone number from you so that the Doctor can call you back.

You may receive a telephone call from the Doctor prior to your home visit in order for them to discuss your needs and the urgency of the visit.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Doctors Availability

Wallacetown

Douglas

There will usually not be a GP present at our Douglas surgery any morning.

GP appointments will normally be available in the afternoon, a few of which can be booked in advance.

All timetables are subject to change at short notice