Temporary Residents

Welcome to Aviemore!

Aviemore is one of Scotland’s most popular holiday destinations and just now is once again bursting at the seams with holiday makers. Its an unfortunate fact of life that a small number of people on vacation will need to seek medical attention. Aviemore Medical Practice staff are very used to helping holiday makers needing medical assistance. We hope that you find the information on this page of use to you.

Surgery opening hours/making contact with us

The surgery is open Monday to Friday from 8.30 a.m. to 18.00 p.m. daily.

From 8 – 8.30 a.m. and 5 – 6 p.m. our lines are kept open for urgent needs only. 

Out with normal working hours, the surgery will be closed and you will need to make contact through our out of hours service. You can do this by calling 111.

If you do need to contact us for whatever reason, we advise you to do so by telephone and as early as possible after the surgery opens (8.30 a.m.). This will enable us to offer you the best possible options for assistance, especially if you feel you need a home visit. Our GPs are out and about on home visits between 11.30 a.m. and 13.00 p.m. so if you need a home visit please call before 10 a.m.

Emergencies

In the event of a potentially life threatening emergency (such as chest pain, collapse, seizure etc) you should call the ambulance service as soon as possible by dialling 999. The ambulance service can ask for one of our medical team to attend if required. If you phone the surgery in such circumstances, it is likely our reception staff will advise you to call 999 or will do so on your behalf. There is no charge for calling the emergency services in the UK.

Injuries

We provide a casualty service at our health centre and can deal with 95% of injuries and urgent problems quickly and without the need to send you to hospital. Our X-ray department operates on a Monday and a Thursday and all of our doctors are experienced in dealing with cuts, fractures, dislocated joints etc. Every winter, we deal with hundreds of injuries relating to skiing, snowboarding and sledging!

If you sustain an injury, please telephone us for advice and we will arrange for you to be seen as soon as possible.

Emergency Prescription Requests 

If you are visiting the area and require a supply of your usual medication, please see the information below:

Scottish Residents:

Report to the local Community Pharmacy. An emergency supply may be issued to a maximum of one full repeat cycle at the Pharmacist’s discretion. The Pharmacist may ask you to contact your regular GP surgery to confirm your details. There will be no charge for this service.

UK Resident (out with Scotland):

Report to the local Community Pharmacy. An emergency supply may be issued for up to 30 days at the Pharmacist’s discretion. The Pharmacist may ask you to contact your regular GP surgery to request a prescription to be faxed to the Community Pharmacy, this will maintain your care under the NHS, therefore you will be liable to the cost as per your usual payment arrangements. If a prescription is not available, you will be charged for the cost of the item. There is a minimum charge of £9.65.

Please note that if you require certain drugs including controlled medications, strong pain killers, benzodiazepines etc. our doctors will insist on making contact with your own doctor before issuing a prescription. Please bring contact details with you and expect a longer processing time. In these situations, we cannot guarantee that we will issue a prescription and our doctors’ decision in such circumstances is final.

Appointments

If you need to see a doctor or nurse whilst on holiday, then we prefer you to phone us on 01479 810258. As with most medical practices, we would urge you to make contact with us as soon as possible on the day you feel you need attention if at all possible. The later in the day you contact us, the harder it is for us to offer you an appointment!

Telephone advice

An alternative to an appointment is to speak to our duty doctor. They can give you advice over the phone, issue prescriptions for minor ailments including uncomplicated infections or arrange an appointment or home visit if necessary. You can phone and speak to our duty doctor for medical advice every day between 9 and 9.30am and 2 and 2.30pm (2.30-3pm on a Monday). If the duty doctor is busy when you phone, we will take your number and he/she will call you back. Our duty doctor can be very busy at times, especially on Mondays and Fridays. Our receptionists will advise you if there is likely to be a delay in the doctor calling back.

Requests for home visits

If you require a home visit for you or a friend/family member, then please contact us as early as possible. We can see many more patients at the surgery in the time it takes for a doctor to complete one home visit. In addition, we have far more diagnostic equipment available at the surgery. As a result, we restrict home visits to those who genuinely need one for medical reasons. Home visits are carried out between 11.30 – 13.00 daily. In the afternoon, we only have one doctor available for home visits and these must be restricted to genuine emergencies. The duty doctor’s decision in such circumstances is final.

Dental problems

We are unable (and untrained) to treat dental problems at our medical practice. You are advised to contact the Aviemore NHS dental practice on 01479 883142, Aviemore Dental practice on 01479 810301 or alternatively the NHS Highland Dental Helpline on 0845 644 2271.

Eye problems

We can assess all acute eye problems and injuries. You can also see our local optician, Mr Veen, who has his practice by the post office in Aviemore. His phone number is 01479 812777.

Charges for medical services

In the event of a genuine medical emergencies, we provide care for free to everyone who requires it. Otherwise, care is provided for free to residents of the EEA and other countries with reciprocal agreements with the NHS. Proof of residence will be required. For all other situations, a private fee for attendance will be charged and our staff can advise you of the likely charges when you make contact with us. We will issue you with a receipt for your insurance company.

Practice Area

Our practice area is agreed with NHS Highland and covers Aviemore, Tomatin, Carrbridge, Kincraig, Feshiebridge, Boat of Garten, Glenmore and Coylumbridge. Whenever possible, we will try to accommodate temporary residents who are on holiday in any of these areas.

Guide to GP Services

The Royal College of General Practitioners has produced a useful guide for patients about the services on offer at GP Surgeries and how to access them.  You can download the guide below.

 A Patient Guide to GP Services

Non-English Speakers

These fact sheets have been written to explain the role of UK health services, the National Health Service (NHS), to newly-arrived individuals seeking asylum. They cover issues such as the role of GPs, their function as gatekeepers to the health services, how to register and how to access emergency services.

Special care has been taken to ensure that information is given in clear language, and the content and style has been tested with user groups. Open the leaflets in one of the following languages:

English	Urdu
Albanian	Hindi
Arabic	Lithuanian
Bulgarian	Polish
Chinese (Cantonese)	Portuguese
Chinese (Mandarin)	Spanish
Russian	French
Turkish	Punjabi
Gujerati	Somali
Croatian	Bengali
Farsi