Appointments

The practice and the telephone lines are open from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.  The telephone lines are closed from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.   If you need urgent medical help or advice during this time please telephone 01292 671444 for instruction.

We strive to give our patients the best possible service by operating a system of both face to face and telephone appointments.  Rather than directly booking patients into face to face appointments the GP will usually call you for a telephone review first.  This allows us to gather information or arrange important tests before seeing the GP. 

We are lucky to have a large team of expert professionals such as a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and mental health practitioner.  By talking to the GP initially, they can refer directly to them, saving the patient time.  The reception team will ask for brief details and are trained in how to utilise the wider team of professionals to best help our patients.  We have found this system has significantly reduced our waiting time to see a healthcare professional.  

If you require a telephone appointment, you should call the practice as early as possible in the morning, prior to 10am.

For non-urgent matters, you can call the practice after 10.30am and request one of our pre-bookable telephone appointments.  These pre-bookable telephone calls will be made between 8.30am and 10am on the day of booking.

For ongoing chronic conditions, patients can request a continuation telephone appointment with their preferred GP, however, you must be prepared to wait for this as all our GPs are exceptionally busy dealing with on the day telephone triage and urgent appointments.

Please make every effort to come to the practice as this gives the Doctor more time and better facilities to deal with your problem.   If you are too ill to attend the practice, it is helpful if you can telephone your request for a home visit as early as possible in the morning, ideally before 9.30am. Urgent calls will take priority. 

The practice offers a range of extended hours appointment times which are available outside the core opening hours.  These appointments can be booked in advance and are for patients who cannot attend the practice during normal consulting times, due to work or travel commitments.  Please ask our receptionists about our extended hours.

By providing the practice with your mobile telephone number, you are consenting for us to contact you in this way for the purposes of appointement confirmation/reminders and annual review invitations. 

Please ensure we have an up-to-date mobile number for your on our system so you can enjoy the benefits of this service.

You can opt out of this service at any time if you prefer not to receive text messages from us.

Failure to keep appointments leads to delays in other patients receiving appointments and appropriate treatment.  If an appointment is no longer required, please ensure you cancel it. Patients who continually fail to keep appointments will be removed from our list.  

To cancel your appointment:

• phone us on 01292 671444, Monday to Friday from 8.30am-5.30pm
• reply CANCEL to your appointment reminder text message

Ayrshire & Arran Health Board has commissioned NHS 24 to provide an out of hours, telephone advice service at nights and weekends for patients with urgent medical problems.

If you require to be seen, you can contact NHS 24 directly on 111 who will arrange for you to see one of the doctors working for Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) if appropriate.

If you simply need advice, a nursing sister or doctor will speak to you.  If you need to be seen by a doctor and are fit to travel, you will be invited to a treatment centre.  If your problem is more serious and you are not fit to travel, a doctor will visit you at home.

Please be prepared to give a few details including name, address and telephone number etc. when you telephone the out of hours number.

Telephone calls to the out of hours service are recorded.   Please remember that the service is for URGENT problems only.

Any hospital consultant who requires bloods to be taken prior to a clinic will now refer the patient into the Community Phlebotomy Service.

Patients will have the choice of attending the Biggart Hospital or North Ayr Health Centre to have their bloods taken.

This system will ensure that the results of your blood tests are sent directly to the appropriate consultant prior to your hospital appointment.

There are occasions when as part of patient care, an intimate examination by a Doctor or a Nurse is required. We would not wish such an examination to cause undue distress. If you wish a chaperone to be present during the examination, please inform the Doctor or Nurse. It may not be possible for such a chaperone to be provided immediately and you may have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

However, trust is important in the relationship between General Practitioner and patient and we would wish you to feel, at all times, able to ask for a chaperone should this make you feel more comfortable.