GP appointments

We are now seeing the majority of patients face to face in the GP surgery. Appointments can be booked for routine issues ahead of time, or for urgent issues you can call on the day for an appointment - if you feel you have an issue that needs to be dealt with on the day, please call as early as possible to allow us to fit appointments in. We ask that these appointments are reserved for acute issues that cannot wait until the next available routine appointment.

Telephone appointments are being reserved for those who cannot come to the surgery (e.g. because they are housebound, have mobility issues or currently have Covid) and the majority of issues will be dealt with face to face.

Our admin team will ask you for some information as to what your appointment is regarding - please answer with as much detail as possible so that we can direct you to the most appropriate appointment for your problem. All of our admin team are bound by strict confidentiality rules and we take any breaches of these rules extremely seriously.

Please note the opening hours of our various sites - when branch practices are closed, telephones will be answered at alternative sites - calls will always be answered between 8am and 6pm every day but may be on a different site.

The GP team also provides additional services such as child health surveillance (baby checks), maternity services, long acting reversible contraception, joint injections and minor surgery for benign skin lesions.

Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) Appointments

Jane McFarlane, our ANP, can see acute and chronic medical issues much like the GPs can, and will have a daily clinic for face to face and telephone appointments. She is unable to see children under the age of 5 years, or pregnant women. She is particularly skilled in chronic disease management, contraception, menopause consultations (both initiation of treatment and management thereafter) and blood pressure/cholesterol/long term condition issues.

Nursing appointments

Please contact your surgery should you require an appointment with a practice nurse or healthcare assistant. Our nurses can assist with wound care, asthma reviews, blood pressure checks, blood tests (though if these have not been requested by a doctor or as part of your ongoing care, please discuss which tests you would like with one of our clinical team first) and screening appointments such as smear tests. They can also assist with smoking cessation, weight management, travel advice and injections, contraceptive checks and general health checks.

Our Diabetes Liaison Nurse can assist with any queries about diabetes management and medications.

Again please give as much information as possible to the admin team regarding what your appointment is for so that we can direct you to the most appropriate member of the team.

House Visits

Home visits are intended for those patients who are unable to come to the practice in person, either as a result of acute illness or longstanding disability. All house visit requests will be triaged by telephone by a GP prior to a visit. Requests for house visits should be made by 11am where possible to allow the GPs to include them in their schedule for the day. When requesting a house visit, please give the following information: Patient name, date of birth, address and current location (if different from home address), contact number at current location, urgency of the call (i.e. is it an emergency or can it wait until the end of surgery).

Please note, home visits will be carried out by a member of the GP team from the geographically closest surgery branch which may not be the branch with which you are registered.

In case of medical emergency (stroke, chest pain, severe difficulty in breathing etc) please do not call the surgery but telephone 999.

Accessing Medical Care Out of Hours

The practices are closed from 6pm til 8am on weekdays, at weekends and on public holidays. If you require medical advice or need to see a doctor during these times, please phone NHS 24 directly by dialling 111. Please be prepared to give the patient’s name, date of birth, address, current location, current medication and details of the current problem. NHS 24 will arrange for you to see or speak to a doctor if required. The Islay GPs provide out of hours cover on a rota basis. This should only be used if your problem cannot wait until the practice reopens. You can obtain self care advice via NHS inform at any time, and please see our helpful links page for more useful websites.

Please note, unless you have been directed to specifically by a member of the medical team, please DO NOT contact the ward at Islay Hospital with out of hours queries - this is not appropriate and you will be advised to contact 111.

Please also note the GPs are unable to assist with dental problems - these should be seen by a dentist. Islay has an out of hours dental service which can be accessed via NHS24 - dial 111 and explain the problem and you will be directed accordingly.