The practice is now operating a triage system for queries and appointment requests.  Patients should complete an eConsult form explaining the reason for their request.  The form can be accesed by clicking on the image opposite. 

eConsult is for non urgent queries and the practice aim to respond within 24 working hours. 

If your query/request is urgent please telephone the practice on 0345 337 1170 or if it is a medical emergency please dial 999.

Did you know that your local pharmacy can help you with a lot of minor ailments; and a lot of treatments are covered by the NHS Pharmacy First.

NHS Near Me is a new video consulting service which aims to provide outpatient/GP consultations as close as possible to home. NHS Near Me appointments take place either at your home or at a local NHS clinic. You will see your consultant/GP or other specialist by video link. In some clinics, there may be a health care support worker or other NHS staff with you. To use this service, you must have received an appointment letter from NHS Highland or a prompt from your GP Practice. 

For more information click here.

To find out how to attend an NHS Near Me appointment click here

Please see link below to our Near Me (Virtual) waiting room.  You will have access to the virtual waiting room at all times but without an appointment no-one will connect with you for a consultation.

To access your appointment please click here.

Triage Service

During the day there is always a team of relevant staff available at the surgery, to speak to patients on the telephone.

The Emergency Team can assess the symptoms as described by the patient and can offer advice, a home visit as required or they can offer same-day emergency consultations if necessary.

It is important that you advise staff, your symptoms to ensure they pass you to the right person and so that we know the nature of your call.

Pat Boyd & , Fiona Tulloch Community Chaplain currently comes to the practice on a Wednesday morning to offer an active listening service.  GPs will refer patients to him who they feel might benefit from sessions with him.  The service and offers appointments for patients who require someone to talk to.  Religion does not come into it unless the patient requests it and everything said is confidential - no information is fed back to the GP unless they suspect patients are at risk/harm. 

If possible please try to telephone reception before 9:00am if you require a home visit.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Health Centre.

It is important that you inform the reception staff if you are unable to attend your appointment, this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient.  Please call reception on 0345 337 1170 to cancel an appointment.  If you fail to notify the Practice that you are unable to attend, you will be sent a letter informing you that you have defaulted from your appointment. Persistent defaulters maybe removed from the list.

Please attend your appointment on time, if you are late you may not be seen.

If you are not seen you will not be able to rearrange your appointment until the next working day-except in the event of an medical emergency that requires immediate attention.

Chaperones

If you require an examination and wish a chaperone be present, please ask the person that you are consulting with and this will be arranged. If this is not possible for some reason, your appointment will be rescheduled to allow a chaperone to be available.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive general information about the practice.  If reception is unable to contact you then a text reminder can be sent asking you to contact the surgery.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

Cove Bay & Kincorth Medical Centre is a Post Graduate Training Practice where qualified Doctors are completing their training to become GPs. They will be consulting under supervision of other Doctors in the practice.   They will regularly video their consultations as part of their training as video consultations are part of the training process .In some cases the GP may be asked to submit some video consultations as part of their own ongoing reaccreditation requirements.   You will always be asked for your permission in advance and will have the right to decline if you wish.

Medical & Nursing Students

From time to time medical or nursing students are attached to the practice for us to provide them with first-hand experience of general practice. Part of this experience is best gained by 'sitting in' with a qualified Doctor or Nurse during consultations. You will always be asked for your permission to have a student sitting in and you always have the right to decline this if you wish.

Headseats

For training purposes the practice does have dual head sets. The headsets are used to allow any trainee to be able to listen to telephone calls to further their experience.  The person supervising the trainee would advise you if a trainee was listening in on the telephone conversation.  Again you have the right to decline this if you wish.