Practice news
Upcoming events, changes to the practice or interesting health related news articles will be posted here. If you would like to see any of the practice newsletters that we have published please click here. There is also a live news feed from the health pages of the BBC on the right, click on any story that interests you for further information.
Staff changes.
July 16th, 2015 by Dr Wheeler.Most will already know, but last week was Dr Wood’s last week working full time in North Uist Medical Practice as she winds down her work commitments. She will still be living locally and will be doing locums in the islands/ continuing her work with the respiratory clinics based in the hospital.
Local staff wished her well at her leaving lunch – and a lovely floral gift from the patient participation group was much appreciated.
Dr Pilkington and Dr Wheeler are still here as usual – and we are currently looking for a new recruit to join our team.
Looking for a new GP.
June 5th, 2015 by Dr Wheeler.North Uist medical practice is looking to recruit a new GP to join our team. Spread the word!
I have put together a small video showing off our island to try and stir up some interest….
Prescription request changes.
February 12th, 2015 by Dr Wheeler.The practice has just had a review of how we handle prescription requests – so i would like to update you on how things are now working.
Up until recently patients have been able to phone in at any time for repeat prescriptions, but the sheer volume of requests has increasingly become overwhelming for staff who need to keep running back and forth to the phone whilst trying to carry out other tasks.
We have had a number of practice meetings and a discussion with the local patient participation group to see if there may be a way to make the system run smoother – but no perfect answer has come to light.
We have looked at what other practices do – many now no longer accept telephone requests at all – asking patients to phone an answer machine / send a written request or order online.
We feel that this sort of approach would not be very user friendly however and are committed to continuing access to telephone prescription requests for our patients.
We will however be phasing in over the next few weeks a system whereby any telephone prescription requests must be made before 12:00. Any calls after this time will result in staff asking you to please phone back the next day at the appropriate time.
Rest assured, if there is a crisis of some sort with your pills we will continue to try and accommodate you, but we will need to try and make this rule stick for the majority of queries. We would appreciate your understanding in helping making it work.
Please remember that by far the easiest way to order your prescriptions is online. You can do this at any time of the day or night, and it really helps the practice if you use the service.
I have been informed that some people have been having problems registering for the online system over the past few months. This is now fixed – please go to https://www.north-uist-medical.co.uk/wordpress/e-practice/prescriptions/ and register once you have picked up your login details from the practice.
If you have previous login details that don’t work then please call and ask us for an updated sheet.
If you have any questions or queries about ordering prescriptions or how the online features of the practice work please contact us by phone or through the feedback links on the website.
Electric car charger.
October 30th, 2014 by Dr Wheeler.
The public electric car charger is now installed and working. There are 2 charge points on the unit – please feel free to use them when you visit the surgery. You will need your own public charging cable to activate it.
It is exciting that we have been able to facilitate the installation of the first public charger for electric vehicles in North Uist, and I am grateful to the energy saving trust for helping organise its installation. Hopefully this will help kick start the process of moving away from fossil fuels for local transportation in the longer term.
Bayhead surgery is moving!
July 9th, 2014 by Dr Wheeler.There has been a great deal of uncertainty recently regarding the surgery in Bayhead. As most of you will be aware – the design of the new school requires that the building that we currently use be earmarked for demolition.
It still isn’t totally clear when this will happen – but it may be quite soon. As such we have been working behind the scenes to see if there might be some way to continue the service.
The practice is very grateful to the new headteacher at Paible Primary, Miss MacSween, and her team of janitors as they have gone out of their way to accommodate our fortnightly surgery – at least in the short term.
The next Bayhead clinic (tomorrow 10/July) will go ahead as usual in the current building – but the next clinic scheduled for the 24th/July will now be in the old janitors house. The entrance to this is at the far left of the school as you look at it from the road (this is separate from the main school entrance).
The new location will have the advantage of having much easier access for patients with limited mobility. Otherwise the clinic should work in just the same way – medication pickup can be accessed from 2:20 onwards… the first clinical appointment is at 2:30 – all appointments must be booked before hand.
Please spread the word, and thank you again to the staff at Paible school for helping the community in this way.
