Appointments

Sometimes a GP may not be the most appropriate healthcare professional to deal with your ailment. Other professionals such as pharmacists, opticians and dentists may be better placed to help. Please click on the links below for further information.

From Monday 11th November 2024 patients who have a new illness and are looking for a same-day appointment with the CWIC (Care When It Counts) service should phone them directly on 0300 790 6292. From that date our reception team are no longer able to pass patient details to the CWIC service, and they will only provide appointments to patients who contact them directly. The CWIC service phone line is open from 08:30 to 10:30 Monday to Friday, except on public holidays.

The CWIC service provide same day appointments for a wide range of conditions, but they are unable to deal with the following (you should phone the GP practice if your issue is in any of these categories):

• Ongoing conditions that are already being treated by a GP or other NHS Lothian service.
• Patients under 12 years of age
• Housebound patients
• Repeat prescription requests
• Contraceptive issues
• Pregnancy, postpartum or post-natal concerns
• Substance misuse issues
• Mental health issues

When you phone the CWIC service your call will be answered directly by a member of the CWIC team who will ask a few short questions before arranging either a face-to-face or telephone consultation for you at a specific time. Face-to-face appointments take place at Musselburgh Primary Care Centre, which is next door to Tesco’s in Musselburgh. If your issue requires a prescription or sick line, the CWIC clinician you are dealing with can arrange this for you.

The CWIC service is provided by East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership, a division of NHS Lothian. It is staffed by Nurse Practitioners, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Physician Associates and GP’s, and is supported by an admin team.

We offer both On-the-day and Routine (i.e. advance bookable) GP appointments. Our appointments are released at 08:30 each day, and can be booked from this time onwards. Patients who call us before 08:30 to request and appointment will be asked to call back at 08:30.

We release Routine appointments each day for the same day the following week (i.e. on Tuesdays we release the Routine appointments on the following Tuesday). It is currently not possible to book a Routine appointment more than a week ahead.

If you want to book a Routine appointment with a specific GP, you can see which days each doctor works on the Practice Team page.

All requests for Routine GP appointments must be made by telephone or by using the Online Services (see below). Please do not come to the Health Centre in person to ask for a GP appointment, you must do this by phoning us on 0300 790 6277 between 08:30 and 18:00 or by using the Online Services.

Most of our Routine appointments are face-to-face ones, but if you would prefer a telephone appointment please let our Patient Services Adviser know. We are unable to provide a fixed time for telephone appointments, and you need to be available to take the doctor’s call at any time that day.

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with. If you do not wish to provide our Patient Services Adviser with this information you do not have to.

To request an appointment for today you need to phone us on 0300 790 6277 between 08:30 and 18:00. Please do not come to the Health Centre in person to ask for a GP appointment, you must do this by phoning us. On-the-day appointments are not available to book on-line.

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with. We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.

Please note that if your issue is one that can be dealt with by the East Lothian CWIC Service, we may ask you to contact them.

If no on-the-day appointments are available and your issue is medically urgent it can be triaged by one of our duty doctors. Please let us know if you think your issue is medically urgent.

You can book Routine appointments and cancel any type of appointment with our Online Services (you need to be registered for them to do this):

We carry out the following services in the Health Centre. These involve face-to-face consultations with our nursing, HCA & phlebotomy staff.

• Urgent blood samples & INR Testing
• Routine blood tests
• Cervical smear tests

• Asthma reviews
• COPD reviews
• Diabetic reviews
• Discussion of contraception issues

To arrange an appointment with a Practice Nurse, HCA or phlebotomist please contact Reception on 0300 790 6277. We recommend that you call after 11:00 to make these appointments, as there is usually good availability and you will avoid longer waits in the telephone queuing system.

If you are housebound and need an appointment, you can request a home visit. Before arranging a home visit one of our duty doctors will phone you first to understand what you need.

To request a home visit, please phone the practice before 11:00.

You can cancel your appointment in the following ways:

• If you are registered for Online Services you can use this to cancel any appointment
• using our online cancel an appointment form
• phone us on during opening hours
• reply CANCEL to your appointment reminder text message
• If you are late for an appointment you may be asked to re-book.

Please tell us:

• if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
• if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, or by face-to-face
• if you need an interpreter
• if you have any other access or communication needs.

NHS Lothian is responsible for the care of patients outwith surgery hours.

The 111 service provides urgent care information and support if you think you need A&E but its not life-threatening, and advice when your GP, pharmacy or dental practice is closed.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

NHS24 will take relevant details and offer advice, or if appropriate, a consultation at a local base – likely to be East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington or the Royal Infirmary.  A home visit will be arranged if this is required on medical grounds.