Whitburn Group Medical Practice

        

Update: Tuesday 23rd February 2021

YOU ASKED – WE LISTENED.

From Monday 1st March we will be offering a new online appointment request service called ‘Econsult’. Patients can use this online service to request telephone call appointments (the GP would then decide if someone needed to be seen face to face), Med3/sick notes and/or any other admin request. Prescriptions can also be requested using Econsult, however, we immediately passed on patients worries and complaints regarding the new online prescription form not saving previously entered data and we’re happy to say the company who provide the website have now fixed this so this is now able to store your patient medication ordered previously as long as the same device is used. Please note – Econsult should not be used for emergencies. If you feel your call is a medical emergency, please choose option 1 when you call the practice.

For patients who do not own a smart phone or a device to access the internet, please do not worry as the telephone lines will still always be available to call the practice.

We honestly know and understand how difficult it can be to get through to the practice on the telephone. We are patients at practices ourselves and we usually have the same problem unfortunately. This is due to the fact that the demand from GP Practices, will always out way the telephone lines and staff we are able to provide unfortunately. We do wholeheartedly apologise for this and to any patients that have struggled to get through to us.

We now have over 12, 690 patients – if even 3% of our patients are trying to contact us at the same time/on the same day: that is 380 telephone calls – sometimes at the same time!

I want to 100% assure patients that telephones are never ‘taken off the hook, ignored, hung up on purpose’ and other unfortunate accusations regarding staff answering the phones, which we have read or been informed that people think is happening. My office is directly next to where the admin staff sit to answer all calls.

I took over as Practice Manager in October 2020, please believe me that this does not happen. I observe the staff on a daily basis being nothing but courteous, polite and as helpful as possible to as many patients as possible.

Practice Manager

Going forward, please only check the Practice website or the ‘West Lothian News, Weather & Travel Updates’ Facebook page for practice updates. This page kindly shares our updates for us until we have our own Practice Facebook page. These pages are currently the only place where there will be correct, up to date information.

Thank you from the Practice Team.

Out of Hours and Emergencies

111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.

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