APPOINTMENT TEXT REMINDERS

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have disabled the appointment text reminder service we apologise for the inconvenience.

Phlebotomy Hub

If your GP has asked that you book a blood test at your local phlebotomy hub you may do so by calling 0141 355 1525. Pollok Health Centre are also running a drop in service for blood tests starting on Monday 7th September. If you attend between the hours of 8.45am and 3.45pm you will collect a ticket and wait to be called.

Please note that the phlebotomy hub service is not run by the practice and we have absolutely no control over their appointment times or telephone lines.

CVD Invites

You may receive a text invite to attend the surgery to meet one of our Nursing Team as part of a new approach between NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government. The service aims to identify people at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, in order to optimise early intervention and care for those at risk. The programme looks for key risk factors including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, obesity and smoking. During your appointment, the nurse will take your height, weight, blood pressure and will measure your BMI and may take a blood sample. This is not a mandatory service and there is no mandatory obligation to attend.

Weight Loss Injections

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde would like to advise that injections such as Mounjaro and Wegovy are NOT being prescribed or supplied for the purpose of weight loss. More information can be accessed via this link - NHSGGC

Patient Registrations

The surgery is open and accepting new registrations from patients who reside in the following postal code areas - G41 (1-2-3-4-5) G43 (2) and a few street within G46 (6). Please attend surgery to complete a registration form or download from our website and return to one of our surgeries.

Instagram Account

The practice have created a new Instagram account in the hope of getting information to our patients quicker. We hope to begin adding useful information to this account along with some videos from our Clinical Staff who can provide practical advice. Please follow our account by visiting: INSTAGRAM

GP Partner Message to Patients

We are delighted to announce that Dr Carmen Leung, Dr Umarah Ali and Dr James Morton, have all recently become full partners at the practice. Many patients will already have met them and we are sure you will enjoy getting to know them.

However, it is still a challenging time at the practice, with absence due to maternity leave and sickness. We have welcome support from several excellent GP locums. Pressures on the NHS generally remain enormous, with long secondary care waiting lists and long waits at A&E. Promised support for GP practices with new team members such as physiotherapists and link workers has failed to materialise locally. Please recognise that when you are directed to other services, such as Pharmacy First, this is in accordance with Government advice to use other skilled professionals to help with the current crisis in primary care. The pages on this website and NHS Inform give further information. Distorted reporting in some parts of the media remains an issue and we are grateful to the vast majority of our patients for continuing to bear with us. Appointment availability has improved over the summer and we are pleased to have been able to significantly increase the number of prebookable face to face appointments.

Unfortunately though, we still have an unacceptable level of abuse directed towards our staff. It remains our professional responsibility to prioritise safe care of all our patients within available resources. We understand that it can be frustrating for patients when they are unable to get what they want, when they want it, or when any of us at the practice gets something wrong. But treating our administrative staff and practice manager disrespectfully, shouting at them and even on occasion threatening physical violence helps no one. It also jeopardises the service we provide to other patients, as staff morale is eroded and it becomes more and more difficult to recruit. We are fortunate to have a very experienced, skilled and dedicated manager, but too much of her time is currently being taken up with supporting staff around verbal abuse and responding to what most of our patients would see as trivial complaints, instead of developing the service. This is not the ‘new normal’ any of us wants to see post-pandemic. We would respectfully remind patients that they are free to move to a different practice if they are dissatisfied with the service we offer. The practice also has the right to remove patients from the list if they are threatening or abusive to our staff. Of course we continue to welcome all suggestions and constructive feedback and we would like to thank the many patients who have expressed their support as we endeavour to provide the best possible service in the circumstances.

Telephone Lines & Opening Hours

Patients should be advised that all calls, whether dialling our Nithsdale or Merryvale number, will be answered from our main Nithsdale Road practice. There are no changes to our appointment system so please be sure to advise staff your preferred site when booking an appointment. Our telephone lines are open from 8.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Our emergency line is active for URGENT enquiries only 0141 212 6774 between 8am & 8.30am.

With regards to our practice opening hours for visiting the surgery, please see our Opening Hours page - this details the hours in which each practice is open for attending in person and will differ from our telephone line availability.

Please note that searching our opening hours on various internet platforms is not always accurate and we have absolutely no control over some search engines so if in any doubt, please speak to a member of our reception team

Non Attendance - GP Appointments

There has been a significant increase in non attendance for both GP and Nurse appointments in the last few months. Over 42 patients have not attended appointments in the practice over the last 2 weeks. Non attendance prevents other patients from being seen and we would ask that if you are unable to attend for any reason, that you call us to cancel your appointment giving as much notice as possible. If you do not attend an appointment on more than 2 occasions, you will be removed from our practice list.

Welcome to Nithsdale Merryvale Group Practice

We hope you are keeping well during these difficult times. We are here to support all of our patients.

We provide all core NHS-funded general medical services as well as a range of enhanced medical services and a number of private medical services to our registered patients.

Important Links

Surgery Hours

We are open 8.30am - 1.00pm Mon - Fri & 2pm - 6pm Mon- Wed & Fri. We are closed at weekends and on bank holidays.

GP Appointments

URGENT Appointments are bookable on the day. Non-urgent appointments can be booked up to 10 days in advance.

Online Services

Registered users can use Patient Access to order prescriptions and update details. You can also request medication or a sick note, change your details and request copies of medical records from our website. Please see links above.

Register With Us

We are currently accepting new patients that live within our practices' boundaries. To join the practice please check you live within our boundary, then download, fill out and return our registration forms.

Prescriptions

Repeat prescriptions take at least 48 hours to process - please ensure you order your items in good time. You can now request your medication via our website without a login. Please visit our prescription page and complete the short online form.

Test Results

Normally blood tests take 7 days to be returned to the practice. Contact the surgery after 11am to request your results. We will not ordinarily call you regarding your results if they have been returned as normal.

MORE INFO

Self-Refer yourself for physio and counselling

Self Referrals

You can self refer for a number of services including physio, ear-care and bowel screening. We have also provided various links and services regarding mental health, bereavement and women's services.

Self Refer Now

Do I Need a GP?

Please read our self-care guidance on the steps you can take and the services available to you if you, or a family member, falls ill, including using OTC medicines and speaking with your pharmacist.

Self Care Guide

Minor Ailments

The Minor Ailment Service is an NHS service for free medicine for minor complaints for children, people aged 60 or over, people who hold a medical exemption certificate, and people on certain benefits.

Minor Illnesses

Update Your Details

Have you move home recently, changed your landline or mobile number or email address or married and changed your surname? Please update your details with us so our records are up to date.

Change Details

Practice News

Message from the GP Partners

Patients will be aware that these are extremely challenging times for the NHS and General Practice. There was already a shortage of both nurses and doctors prior to the Covid pandemic and the pandemic, with all its consequences, has made things much worse. Our surgery now has 3 fewer GP partners than at the start of the pandemic and with the current pressures, recruitment is a constant challenge. There are escalating needs and demands – last Monday, for example, the surgery received over 600 phone calls, not including prescription requests. The system is further stressed by long waits for hospital appointments and we fully appreciate the upset and frustration this causes patients. We are of course trying to support those who suffer as they wait, but the delays are outwith our control.

A recent audit of consultations taken from a standard working week notes that our practice sees an average of 48 face to face GP consultations per day and an average of 100 GP telephone consultations per day. Our Nursing staff are seeing an average of 45 patients per day in practice. This amounts to an average of 193 clinical contacts per day. This figure excludes the review of secondary care/private letters and results, GP messages, tasks and acute prescribing.

The pressure on General Practice was supposed to be eased by the expansion of the GP Team to include Practice Pharmacists, Physiotherapists and Community Link Workers, with reconfiguration of urgent care services. However funding has dried up and of this, our Practice has received only pharmacy support and even this on a much more limited basis than was intended. We are however glad to have the expertise of our Pharmacy Team, helping with ever-increasing prescribing demands.

In addition, the Health Board has taken over all vaccinations and ear syringing/microsuction. It also provides a Phlebotomy Hub for routine blood tests, allowing our nurses and health care assistants to focus on management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. We are aware that there can be some delays on the phone lines for these services and are grateful to patients for their patience and willingness to attend Community Clinics when requested.

Our Community Pharmacy colleagues have been given an expanded role, including the Pharmacy First scheme, which can provide treatment for many more minor conditions. Many patients will have benefitted from this. Community Pharmacies are also dealing with increasing demands and we recognise that patients can find it frustrating that they have to wait longer for a non-urgent prescription to be processed and dispensed. This is as a result of pressure on both the Surgery and the Pharmacy. It is also frustrating for everyone when a paper prescription which has been issued cannot be located, which becomes more likely with high volumes of prescriptions going to multiple pharmacies. We hope that prescriptions may eventually be transmitted to the Pharmacy electronically, as already happens in England, but in the meantime ask for your patience when this happens.

The outgoing President of the RCGP, Prof Martin Marshall, has said that “many parts of the NHS are under such enormous pressure that they are unable to provide the personal care that patients need, unable to provide effective care and increasingly unable to even provide safe care”. This is not the situation any doctor or nurse went into medicine to provide and we very much hope it is a temporary one. However, at times of pressure, it will always be our responsibility to prioritise the safe care of all our patients within available resources and this may mean longer waits for those with less urgent problems and more difficulty getting an appointment with a particular doctor or nurse. We are disappointed when this has to be the case and sorry for the frustration caused when it is difficult to get an appointment. Please be assured that our Practice Manager is constantly working to improve appointment availability. However, please also remember that in these difficult times, if it were not for skilled filtering and signposting by our dedicated staff, the system would collapse completely. We have been shocked by recent levels of verbal abuse against our Practice Manager and reception staff and we ask that patients avoid taking their frustrations out on our staff, who are doing their utmost to try and help you. We understand that the last few years have been difficult and exhausting for everyone, but the resulting stress, anxiety and frustration has affected our staff too. We appreciate that distorted media reporting has affected people’s attitudes and would like to thank those patients who see past this and come in with a kind word and a smile for our staff.

While we will always seek to understand and support distressed patients, those who abuse our staff will be removed from our practice list

We are grateful to the many patients who have expressed their support at this difficult time for everyone in the NHS. Of course, like everyone, we will make mistakes and we always welcome constructive feedback. Please bear with us as we continue to do all we can to provide the best possible service in the circumstances.

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