Patients aged 16 years and over can now sign up to Patient Services to book advance GP appointments, smear tests and contraception appointments online.
Before booking an appointment, we ask patients to:
– check your symptoms on NHS Inform and decide if self-care is appropriate
– decide if your pharmacy can help
– consider the self-referral services available to you – including mental help, physio and community nursing
– consider if you should call NHS 24 instead – call them 24 hours a day for minor injuries and urgent care
Call us on 0300 790 6266 or go online to book an appointment. Our phonelines can be very busy especially first thing in the morning – please see below for advice on the best time and place to book each type of appointment. We aren’t able to book GP or CWIC team appointments at the front desk unless in special circumstances – asking our Reception team to do so means that they can’t help other patients at the front desk as quickly.
Types of appointments
Our fully staffed clinical team offer a large number of appointments each week.
Same day CWIC appointment | The Care When It Counts (CWIC) service is based in Musselburgh Primary Care Centre, next door to Riverside. CWIC is a service that’s run by the East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership – or ELHSCP. The CWIC team consists of nurse practitioners, advanced nurse practitioners, physician associates and GPs who provide same-day assessment, diagnosis and treatment for patients from four GP Practices in East Lothian. The CWIC team can assess, diagnose and treat a wide range of new health concerns, or flare-ups of existing conditions. They can prescribe medications if you need them, and arrange tests and referrals. Call us from 8am to book an appointment with the CWIC team |
Same day GP appointment | Most of our GP appointments each day are ‘same-day’ appointments. This is so that if a lot of people ring up with urgent health problems on any given day we have the ability to see them quickly. Your health concern DOES NOT need to be urgent to book a same-day appointment. Call us from 8am to book a same-day GP appointment, |
Advance GP appointment | Each morning at 7.45am we release some advance GP appointments (for up to a week ahead) for online booking via Patient Services. You can sign up for Patient Services here. Further advance GP appointments for up to a week ahead are released each day and reserved for people to book over the phone from 8am. Go online from 7.45am or call us from 8am to book an advance GP appointment, |
Advance appointment with our nurse specialists | For contraception or issues relating to long-term conditions including asthma, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), COPD, chronic kidney disease, coronary heart disease and stroke. You can book up to 8 weeks in advance. Call us after 11am or book at the front desk |
Advance appointment with our treatment room nurses and phlebotomists | Including for blood tests, injections, smear tests and BP checks. You can book up to 8 weeks in advance. Call us after 11am or book at the front desk |
Telephone assessment with triage nurse practitioners or emergency GP | If the day’s same-day appointments are fully booked but you have symptoms which you feel can’t wait then please stay on hold and let the Receptionist know. They may be able to arrange an assessment with a triage nurse practitioner or the emergency GP. |
Home visit | Patients who are listed as housebound on our system or who are temporarily housebound (for example recovering from surgery) can request a home visit. A doctor will assess whether your symptoms require a home visit – and if, so whether you need to be visited by a GP or by our specialist paramedic. Please call before midday to request a home visit – our Reception team will check first if you can come to the Practice to be seen |
Extended hours | We offer pre-bookable appointments for both urgent and routine care, with a range of healthcare professionals, from 7.30-8am. |
Clinician-requested advance GP appointment | A proportion of our appointment book each day is already filled with follow-up appointments for our patients which have been requested by Riverside GPs and nurses, or by other services – for example hospital teams. The doctor will let you know if they’d like you to come for a follow-up appointment. |
What happens when you call
General Practice is changing: there are now a range of health professionals who provide care to you. Our receptionists will ask you the reason for your call, so they can make sure you get the right care, from the right health professional. This might be at the Practice or at another service run by the local health board or NHS Lothian. Our clinical triage team and experienced Reception team supervisors support them in this. All information you give our Reception team is treated in the strictest confidence.
Cancelling appointments
Please tell us as soon as possible if you can’t attend your appointment. This means we can offer the appointment to someone else.
You can cancel via the text reminders that we send for advance appointments. If you’re signed up for Patient Services, you can cancel most types of appointments when logged in. You can also call or email us to cancel, or come to the front desk.
Late arrivals
Please attend your appointment on time. If you’re late, we might not be able to see you that day.
Interpreters
If you need an interpreter to come to the surgery or be on the telephone to support you when you see the doctor or nurse, please tell the receptionist at the time you book your appointment.