Appointments

Booking an Appointment

Consultations are by appointment only and can be arranged personally at reception or by telephone (please note appointments at reception are only given after 9am, this is to allow patients equal access to appointments).

Appointments are spaced at 10 minute intervals. If you should require longer please inform the receptionist when you are booking your appointment. This helps prevent surgeries running late and causing inconvenience to other patients.

It is important to arrive on time for your appointment. If you are more than ten minutes late you will not be seen.

We book our appointments on the day which does tend to mean very busy phone-lines in the early part of the morning, especially on a Monday or after a public holiday.

We have some ‘Advance booking’ appointments for those patients who need to book ahead due to their personal commitments. These are offered first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon.

We do encourage patients to see the doctor of their choice. However, on occasion, this may not be possible. 

Consulting Days

Dr Coulter

All day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Dr Hunter

All day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Dr McGaughey

All day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday

Dr Dunne

All day Monday and Thursday

There will  be days when the GP’s cover On-call and Emergency Duties and are not available for
routine appointments. 

Extended Opening Hours

The Surgery offers early morning appointments Monday to Thursday for both Doctors and Nurses. 

These appointments are intended for patients who find it difficult to attend appointments during normal surgery hours, perhaps due to work or travel commitments. 

To book an appointment please ask at reception or telephone 01292 611835.

These appointments are booked in advance.

Telephone Advice

If you feel that your problem could be dealt with over the telephone without taking up an appointment time please phone at 2pm and ask for a telephone consultation.

Both the Doctors and Nurses offer telephone consultations.

It would be helpful if you could give brief details to reception staff regarding your request in order that the Doctor or Nurse can be prepared for your call. 

It may be that the receptionist or nurse can better assist you without the need to take up the Doctors’ time. 

Home Visits

If you are housebound or too ill to attend the surgery please contact reception as early in the day as possible (before 10:00 unless in case of an emergency) in order that the on-call doctor can plan their working day. If you are in any doubt about the need for a home visit please ask to speak to one of the doctors for advice.

Please do not abuse this service as it takes four times longer for a doctor to visit than it does to be seen at the surgery where facilities for examination are much better. 

NHS Ayrshire & Arran leaflet on the appropriate use of house visits CLICK HERE.

Urgent requests at any time are dealt with as soon as possible by the doctor on duty.

When you contact the receptionist you will be asked for details of your illness. Please try to give as much detail as possible in order to allow the doctor to prioritise the calls.

Other Useful Information

During periods of high demand or when we have doctors on annual leave there is a possibility that you may be asked to speak to the doctors in order to assess/triage your call. It may be that you do not require to attend an appointment and it can be dealt with by telephone.

Please do not abuse the appointment system. Someone else may be in greater need of the appointment, so if you are in doubt ask to speak to either a doctor or a nurse for advice.

For general health advice and support NHS 24 offer advice 24 hours per day, even during surgery opening hours.  The telephone number is 111.