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NHS Near Me video consulting service

NHS Near Me is a new video consulting service which aims to provide outpatient/GP consultations as close as possible to home. NHS Near Me appointments take place either at your home or at a local NHS clinic. You will see your consultant/GP or other specialist by video link. In some clinics, there may be a health care support worker or other NHS staff with you. To use this service, you must have received an appointment letter from NHS Highland or a prompt from your GP Practice. For more information click here.

To find out how to attend an NHS Near Me appointment click here.
To access your appointment please click here.

Appointments

Aims

Our excellent reception staff will always try to find the most convenient and appropriate appointment for you, although this may not always be possible. Please understand that there are only a certain number of each appointment type that we can make available on any given day and try to help us by considering which would be the most appropriate type of appointment and with whom.

If you are unable to keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the appointment to someone else.

48 Hour Access - Our aim is to offer access to an appropriate healthcare professional within 2 working days. Measurement of achievement is based on an annual patient survey which a percentage of our patients are asked to complete.

Routine Appointments

The practice operates an appointment system and offers a range of appointment times.

Please telephone or call at the Practice between 9am - 5.30pm. If you wish an appointment within 48 hours this may not be with a doctor of your choice.

Advance Booking 

Patients can book up to 2 weeks ahead for a routine GP appointment, and 4 weeks ahead for a routine Nurse appointment.

Urgent Appointments

If your request is medically urgent a duty doctor will call you back to assess your request.

There are also other alternatives that may be more appropriate:

• Your local Pharmacist may be able to offer some advice for some minor ailments.
• NHS 24 (111) provides telephone health advice 24 hours a day.
• For life threatening emergencies contact 999.  
• Dental emergencies can be dealt with by your dentist or by calling the NHS Dental Helpline on 08456442271

Opening Hours

Consultation Times

Some doctors don't consult every day. Here are "usual consulting" times:

Some doctors don't consult every day. Here are "usual consulting" times: 

Dr Mark Taylor consults all day Monday, Wednesday & Friday

Dr Matheson consults all week except all day Wednesday & Friday afternoon 

Dr Anderson consults every day except for Tuesday 

Dr Hargrave consults all day Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Wednesday morning 

Dr Rennie - consults all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 

Dr O'Hara - consults all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Dr Forbes - consults all day Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 

Dr Jones - consults Thursday and Friday mornings and all day Tuesday

Dr Vasko - consults all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Dr Megan Taylor - consults all day Monday(until Feb 24), Thursday and Friday

Late for your Appointment?

We understand that patients sometimes cannot help being late for an appointment.

Please take into account logistical difficulties, or the time involved in travelling to the surgery.

If you know you are going to be late, please try to phone ahead to re-book so that we do not waste appointments.

Patients are booked at regular intervals.  It may not be possible to see you as it would cause considerable delay to others.  If time allows, the doctors and nurses would try to fit you in but this may be for a very brief appointment at the end of surgery.

Clinically urgent matters can be triaged by the duty doctor.

Continuity of Care

This information advises you how best to see the doctor that you want and whether you should see a doctor or a nurse.

Sometimes you may feel this doesn't matter, but for longstanding problems or those that are new and under investigation it may be best to see the same one or 2 doctors if possible.

Planning Appointments - Should allow you to choose the doctor you want to see. If you ask to see a doctor urgently it can be more difficult to see a particular doctor as these appointments are given with the first available doctor. Many doctors are not in every day. If the problem can wait a few days you have more chance of choosing your doctor.

The Phone - Some problems can be dealt with (or a plan of action started) exclusively by telephone consultation. Doctors are available to speak to at several points during the day. Phone reception and you will be advised to phone back at a particular time when the doctor will be available.

The practice nurses can care for and follow up most long term conditions, and can involve the doctor in any treatment decisions.

Please, only see the doctor for things that need the doctor. Other health care professionals in the practice can see you for a variety of problems or procedures. This helps make doctors more available to see patients for illness.

The Practice Nurses will see you for:

• Contraception checks, Smoking cessation, Routine checks for Asthma/COPD, Heart, Stroke, Diabetes. As well as the normal wounds, dressings, stitches, cervical smears, coil checks, ear syringing, sexual health swabs, new patient checks, ECGs.

Let the receptionist know and they can make your appointment with the correct person.

When you make a nurse appointment you will be asked what the appointment is for. This is just to ensure that you will see a nurse who can provide the service you need.

The Health Care Assistants will see you for:

• All blood tests, Blood pressure checks, ECG, Urine tests, New patient medicals.

Cancelling Appointments - If you are unable to attend it is essential you cancel an appointment that you cannot attend then we can use that appointment for someone else.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 11:00.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Doctors In Training 

The Kingsmills Medical Practice is recognised as a training practice. The practice team is committed to the development of future GPs and some of our surgeries are set up to support these doctors in training. They are fully qualified and their placements in the practice will vary from 6 months to a year. 

As part of their training these doctors may sometimes wish to record their consultations with you, in honing their communication and examination skills for their exams and ongoing learning through feedback.  You will be asked to consent to this before any recordings are made, and you will be able to withdraw consent at the end of the consultation if you change your mind. If you feel uncomfortable about video recordings, please let us know before the appointment.  This will not affect your consultation in anyway. This process is for the benefit and development of the doctor and recording will be deleted once the doctor has reflected on their performance. 

We are grateful for your co-operation in the important work of teaching future GPs. 

Medical Students 

We also offer training for Aberdeen University medical students. Students may sit in on doctors’ consultations and also consult with the full supervision of a GP. We will always ask you when making an appointment or attending the surgery if you mind seeing a student. Please tell us at anytime if you would prefer not to do this. 

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)