NEEDING A LETTER FOR UNI OR COLLEGE?

There is an increasing tendency for educational institutions to seek GP confirmation where a student may have been absent from attending exams or classes due to ill health.  We are increasingly being asked to spend time writing letters to confirm periods of absence that we often know nothing about, or to confirm that students have been, or will be, unable to sit exams, or submit coursework, due to problems that the Institution may already be well aware of.  This is an inappropriate use of your GP's time and is a growing problem.   Parents are responsible for providing reasons for their children's absences from school, and students, as adults, are responsible for providing reasons for their absences from university or college. 

There is no obligation for GPs to provide such reports or letters as part of the National Health Service, and Department of Work and Pensions Medical Certificates cannot be issued, as these are legal documents used exclusively for employment and social security purposes. Such reports or letters therefore fall into the same category of private services that occupational health reports for employers currently occupy, and they will be charged for accordingly.

Should an educational institution insist on a Doctor's letter, they themselves should submit a written enquiry to the GP,  including the appropriate signed consent of the student that gives explicit permission for the release of information from their medical record.  The appropriate consent form can be downloaded here.

In all cases, this type of letter or report will attract a fee commensurate with the amount of GP and administrative time involved in its preparation.                           

MEDICAL STUDENT TEACHING

The Surgery is a teaching practice for students studying Medicine at Edinburgh University Medical School.  This means that we have a "Student Doctors" attached to the Practice for periods of 10 weeks at a time, over 30 weeks of the year.  The students will be observing consultations between patients and various members of the Practice team during their attachments, and they will accompany the GPs on home visits etc.  There will only ever be one student at a time, and he or she will be bound by the same duty of confidentiality that applies to all other members of our Team.  Each Student Doctor will require to gain experience and confidence in dealing with patients' problems themselves, so during the course of each 10-week attachment, we will seek your permission to allow the Student to obtain the story behind your problem, and/or examine you, if you need to be seen in person. 

You will be advised whenever a student is going to to present at any of the appointments that you attend, so that you have the opportunity to ask to see your healthcare professional alone. Please do remember, however, that we are teaching the doctors of the future, and the only way for them to learn is by seeing patients like you.

ARE YOU AGED 50-74....?

If so, you will be invited through the post every 2 years to take part in bowel screening. It is a simple, easy-to-do test that can detect early signs of bowel cancer before symptoms develop. If you have not responded to an invitation in the last 2 years and would like more information or to request a new test, phone 0800 0121 833 or email bowelscreening.tayside@nhs.net

Think You Need Your Ear-Wax Removed? 

 Please click HERE                                                                           

Welcome to The Hopetoun Practice at Bellevue Medical Centre.

Welcome to our website, where we hope you will find all the information you need in order to make the most of our services. 

We operate from modern, purpose-built premises that house two separate Practices. On entering the building, The Hopetoun Practice is the Reception to the left, whilst The Annandale Practice is the Reception to the right.  Please ensure that you come to the correct Reception in order to avoid any confusion!

Disabled access to the Medical Centre is via a ramp from either the small car park on Annandale Street Lane, or alternatively, the footpath on Huntingdon Place.  All areas of the building are at ground-floor level, and there are male and female toilets for the disabled immediately opposite the entrance.  Please note that parking is very limited around the Medical Centre, so we would encourage our non-disabled patients to avoid travelling to the surgery by car if at all possible.

Please use the menu above to navigate around our site, and to find out information about our opening times, surgery times, and things like how to order repeat prescriptions etc. 

Please click on Further Information, then use the menu to the right to access information about services and organisations outwith the Practice that you may find useful. This contains, amongst other things, a full selection of Mental Health Resources, self-referral information for Children's Physiotherapy and self-referal forms for Adult Podiatry (also known as Chiropody).  The Health Visitors' pages can also be found in this section. 

Please remember to inform us if you move house, or change your telephone number or email address. You may do this either in person via Reception, or alternatively, use the button below to inform us electronically. 

We would also like you to tell us whether we can use you mobile number to send text messages to. This might be to remind you of your appointment time, to pass on important information, or to ask you to call us about something.  We will never use your number to send irrelevant spam, so if you would like to use this service, please use the button below to give your consent.

You may also like to update your clinical record, including things like your current smoking status, weight etc, by using the appropriate button below.  All information sent electronically via this website is securely encrypted through SSL technology, and will remain entirely confidential.

Opening Times

The surgery is open between the hours of 08:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday.

Please remember that on entering the building, there are two practices.  Reception for The Hopetoun Practice is to the left.

Please note that, in order to allow for essential internal communication and training purposes , the Practice will be closed every Tuesday  between the hours of 12.30 - 1.30pm.  The building will be locked, and all telephone lines will divert to an answering service that will give full details.  

It will also provide an alternative, mobile, telephone number in the event that someone needs to contact one of the doctors urgently, before the lines re-open at 1.30pm.  This should only ever be used for truly URGENT matters, and this will be strictly enforced in order to allow our administrative team protected time for this essential aspect of its work. 

GP appointments are normally available between the times listed below:

In addition, a number of short telephone consultations are available after the morning, and before the afternoon, surgeries.  Our receptionist will be happy to advise whether these might be an appropriate means of dealing with your problem.

Our Nurse clinics run between the following times:

Monday: 08:10 - 17:40

Tuesday & Thursday: 08:10 - 16:30

Wednesday: 08:10 - 17:00 

Friday: 08:10 - 11:40