At times of high workload, holiday or sickness Locum Doctors may be employed to assist the Practice. They are fully qualified general practitioners who wish more flexibility in their working hours. Checks are carried out in keeping with current recommendations from the GMC.

The Registrar or GPST (General Practice Speciality Training) is a qualified doctor who is furthering their training within the field of General Practice. They will either be in year 8, 9 or 10 of training, i.e. a GPST1 is in year 8 and a GPST3 is in year 10. A GPST2 is based in hospital jobs and visits the practice twice a year in that year. At the practice they gain supervised experience in general practice. With your consent, the Registrar may record your consultation for teaching, training or assessment purposes.

We have a team of Scottish Ambulance Service Paramedics working for us in the Practice to assist GPs and Nurses on a variety of tasks including home visits to assess, triage and treat patients. The Paramedics can also refer patients onward to other hospital services where necessary, they can prescribe and they liaise with the GPs regularly to formulate care plans for patients/follow up appointments or visits where required.

Steph is an Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner but for ease she is referred to as "Physiotherapist" . She can advise on a number of medical issues: Joint pain and stiffness Neck pain, e.g. whiplash Shoulder pain, e.g. frozen shoulder Elbow pain, e.g. tennis elbow Back pain Sciatica Hip pain Knee pain Foot and ankle pain, e.g. sprained ankle Problems with walking Arthritis Muscle, ligament, tendon or bone problems Sprains, strains or sports injuries She will not provide your ongoing treatment but will advise on the best course of action and can undertake tasks for the next steps such as referrals for x-ray/ongoing medical care, sicklines, requesting a prescription for your MSK issue from the GP. She is not able to deal with patients in the following circumstances: Patients who are acutely unwell Children < 16 years old Pregnant women (separate service) Patients requiring a home visit Patients requesting only prescriptions or sicklines Undiagnosed headaches Acute suspected fractures Pain suspected from other medical cause (e.g.heart, lungs, infection, fever) Acute mental health crisis Patients with a Learning Disability (separate service) She works on Thursdays and Fridays in the practice and patients can book appointments directly with her without the need to see a GP first.

We have two Pharmacists and 1 Pharmacy Technician based in the practice who carry out a wide range of tasks in the practice including reviewing dosette changes, handling enquiries from community pharmacists, poly-pharmacy work, medicines reconciliations, acute prescribing and identifying alternatives in cases of manufacturing issues/shortages. The Pharmacy team support the GPs in their prescribing work.

Gemma is our Advanced Nurse Practitioner with a PG Diploma in Advanced Clinical Practice. She has a wealth of knowledge in acute care and can assess, examine, diagnose and treat a wide array of medical conditions without the need for patients to see a GP first. Gemma can assist patients suffering from any acute medical problems including shortness of breath, chest pain, abdominal pain, muscular pain, minor injuries, infections, skin conditions, minor illness or mental health concerns. Gemma is an Independent Prescriber meaning she can issue prescriptions for treatment. She can also refer patients onward to hospital or community specialties and works closely with GPs in the practice if second opinions are required. If you wish to book an appointment with our Advanced Nurse Practitioner, please book in at main reception or call the practice on 0131 334 5000.

A Nurse Prescriber is a Registered Nurse who has the authority to prescribe medicines for common and long term conditions. They work in collaboration with other healthcare professionals and follow ethical and legal principles to ensure patient-centred care. Registered nurse prescribing improves people’s access to health care, including access to medicines, and improves care while maintaining safety. In the Practice, they undertake a similar role to a Practice Nurse but are also able to prescribe.

The Practice Nurses are available from 8.10am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday. They are qualified Nurses who see patients with long term conditions such as heart disease prevention/stroke, diabetes, asthma/COPD and other respiratory problems. They also see patients to undertake cervical smears and do general nursing procedures such as dressings, cervical smears, stitch removal, first aid, general health promotion (including dietary advice and smoking cessation), hormone therapy checks and contraception (including emergency contraception). Both Jodie and Claire have completed their prescribing course and can prescribe medications suitable for your circumstances when undertaking various reviews.

Treatment Room Nurses are qualified Nurses who assist medical personnel in the care of practice patients to include treatment, preventative care, screening and patient education. Once trained, they also undertake cervical smears. They also assist the practice with the monitoring work, such as checking height/weight and taking bloods, for chronic disease management (i.e. asthma, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, COPD.)

The Nursing Assistant supports the nursing team with their daily work and carry out tasks such as new patient checks, blood pressure measurement and phlebotomy (drawing blood). They may act as a chaperone when a patient or doctor requests one. They also support the GPs who undertake minor surgery procedures.

The Phlebotomists are responsible for taking blood samples. Appointments are available from 8.10am, Monday to Friday. The Domiciliary Phlebotomist visits patients in their own homes if they are housebound.

The Practice Manager is involved in managing all of the business aspects of the practice such as making sure that the right systems are in place to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises and equipment and information technology. The Practice Manager supports the GPs and other medical professionals with delivering patient services and also helps to develop extended services to enhance patient care. The Assistant Practice Manager supports the Practice Manager and Practice as a whole, deputising in the Practice Manager's absence and ensures a high standard of service is provided to patients at all times. The Assistant Practice Manager is line manager for the reception and administrative teams and ensures these teams carry out their duties in a timely and efficient manner, within the Practice Guidelines.

The Practice has Administrator roles for staff who deal with a variety of tasks such as: Contract and IT Administrator, Practice Clinical Administrator, Practice Office Administrator, Secretary, Medical Records Summariser and Coder. These posts cover the work in the background which patients do not see such as processing new patient registrations and importing new patient medical records, deducting patients who move from the practice, summarising new patient medical records, processing mail, processing SAR requests and requests for medical reports, creating GP appointment rotas to name a few tasks.

Receptionists provide an important link for patients with the practice and are your initial contact point for general enquiries. They can provide basic information on services and results and direct you to the right person depending on your health issue or query. Receptionists make most of the patient appointments with the GPs and nurses. They also perform other important tasks such as issuing repeat prescriptions and dealing with prescription enquiries, registering new patients, dealing with financial claims, dealing with patient records and carrying out searches and practice audits. The team consists of Supervisors and Receptionists.

Midwives provide care for pregnant ladies. Initial booking appointments can be made by calling the centralised booking line on 0131 536 2009. This will create a first midwife appointment and booking scan appointment. Should you need to speak with the midwifery team directly, they can be contacted on 0131 286 5023. The team are based at Pennywell All Care Centre.

The District Nursing team provides care and support for patients in their own homes. They can be contacted directly on 0131 316 4053 from 08:00 to 16:30 Monday to Friday. An answering machine is available if the nurses are out on calls and the machine is checked at regular intervals. The District Nurses work closely with GPs, carers, hospitals, hospice services, social work, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and chiropody services. After 16:30pm, at weekends and over public holidays, please contact NHS24 on 111.

Health Visitors are qualified nurses who have undertaken specialist training in community and public health nursing. Members of the Health Visiting Team offer support and provide health promotion advice on many health issues such as immunisation, infant feeding, sleep and behaviour management and aim to support families with general child health concerns. The Team also undertake developmental assessment at scheduled intervals and work closely with other partner agencies, including local nursery schools and Early Years providers and can offer assessment and appropriate referral when necessary. A new parents group, drop in sessions and local breast feeding support group are available to families with babies up to six months of age. The Team can be contacted on 0131 334 5086/4955 (08:30 – 16:30) Monday to Friday. An answer machine will take messages if they are out of the office.

Our social prescribing link worker Amanda McIntosh's role is to connect people with local community activities that can help improve their health and wellbeing. Her role focusses on social issues rather than medical issues. A vital part of her role is in building relationships with the people she is helping by listening carefully to what's important to them and what motivates them. Your GP can refer you if relevant.

The Practice is committed to teaching medical students. We teach 4th year University of Edinburgh students. You may be offered an appointment with the student with a Doctor in attendance, or you may be asked to see the student before seeing the Doctor with whom you booked the appointment. Occasionally, consultations are recorded for teaching purposes. In all of these circumstances your consent will be sought beforehand and it is perfectly acceptable to decline. We are very grateful for patient support in this important venture of assisting the Registrar and students develop their skills.