Slateford Medical Centre

I have been registered at this medical practice for 2 years and have had very mixed service. When you make an appointment, it will be with any of the GPs, unless perhaps it is a follow up appointment and you specify whcih doctor you need to see. Without naming names, there is one doctor I have seen twice that is unfriendly and didn’t seem interested in helping me at all. In contrast, I have since seen a different doctor who was very friendly, thorough and good at explaning things. I have also found the nurses great too.
There is a self check-​in screen, which is great, as it means you don’t have to wait for reception staff to be free. You just click a few buttons and then take a seat in the waiting room. I have found the doctors tend to be running 10 – 20 minutes over time and the nurses more punctual.
It is quite hard to get appointments outside 9 – 5 business hours. There is only one day a week that is open for extra early appointments, but these are usually booked well in advance.
There is an NHS physiotherapy and podiatry service connected to the medical centre too. I have had physiotherapy here, which has been a good experience.

My local GP and I have no issues here and this is better than my previous practice.
I’ve got a great GP here so she is really thorough and I’ve found the nurses to be stellar too.
I’ve been able to either speak to someone on the phone or get an emergency appointment to see someone quickly. They also have early morning appointments before 8am which is great for those of us who have a full time job but you will need to book these in advance.
So, great health centre and fortunate to be registered here.

If you are looking for a new GP, look elsewhere. While the doctors and nurses seem nice, getting to them through the rude and unhelpful receptionist is a difficult task. In the morning, I phoned the office and I was told by a gentleman over the phone that they were accepting new patients and that they could get me an appointment on the next day. I came to the office an hour later where I was greeted by a cold and unhelpful receptionist who told me that they were full for the week and that she couldn’t help me and to go somewhere else. When I told her about the phone conversation I had, she seemed surprised and she said she didn’t know who I talked to on the phone. Then, she gave me the registration form which I filled out hoping that they would at least start processing my registration so that I could see someone at the start of next week. After an hour of filling out the 4-​pages long form, I went to hand it in. There, at the reception, I met the gentleman who I spoke to on the phone and who seemed quite sympathetic at first. Immediately, the receptionist said to him «we can’t do this one» and they proceeded to walk into the backroom with my form to talk to each other. After a minute they both came back, handed the form back to me and told me that their registration was full until Tuesday (whatever that means, I guess it’s a polite way to tell someone to go away). When I told them I was in pain and asked them what to do, they told me to go to the emergency room (although this wasn’t the type of issue you go to an emergency room for). I’m definitely never going back to this place!

The nurses are excellent and while a little rushed the doctors extremely competent and will make time for you if you really request it. The medical centre itself is modern and clean and there are excellent parking facilities available.
My one and only complaint would be regarding the overly-​intrusive reception staff who seem to want to know your entire medical history before they will consider giving you an appointment and if you refuse to play their game the best they will do is tell you the next available appointment is 6 to 8 weeks away. If you try to insist on an earlier appointment without giving them all the information they want they have been known to become rude and even hang up the phone on you. When you do arrive at the surgery many of them act as though they are too busy to welcome you and when you finally do let them know you have arrived for your appointment you are abruptly told to sit without a smile, kind word or any indication that they even regard you as a human being.
The receptionists ruin what would otherwise be an exemplary medical practice, but if you can put up with the attitude from these glorified typists Slateford Medical Practice is where you really want to be for your medical needs.