Are you a GP who wants to provide high quality care in a community with high health needs – but also wants work-life balance? This could be the place for you! We’re looking for a GP or GPs to join us at Riverside Medical Practice on a fixed-term contract basis to cover a maternity leave. The number of sessions you work is negotiable with flexibility in terms of days, although Wednesdays and Fridays especially welcomed. Let us know what you’re looking for.  

GP workload is carefully managed with 21 x 15 minute appointments a day and flexibility in terms of how these are organised, in line with your working preferences. We may be able to accommodate early or late starts on some days, to help with the school run. 

Duty doctor days are supported by another ‘flexi-doc’ GP – with both ‘duty’ and ‘flexi’ being shared out equally between all GPs. Home visit days are supported by our specialist paramedic who conducts a large proportion of the visits. You’ll have access to your own pre-bookable phone and F2F slots, so you can follow up on patients where needed, with dedicated time set aside each day for your admin. We use Vision here.

We’re a busy surgery (list size 19,600) located in an area with significant health inequality – so we’re looking for GPs who are passionate about working in this type of environment and who really want to make a difference. It’s clinically interesting work, with many different types of pathology.

This is a unique Practice where same-day care is broadly managed by a nurse-led local health board team, located next door to us. This means our GPs have more time to provide care to more complex patients, with 15-minute appointments as standard. Direct access local health board-run MSK, CTACS and mental health services are also available to our patients, again making sure your time is spent with the patients who most need your care.

We have a stable, 50-strong team at the Practice, with a number of WTE GPs which compares favourably to national averages. We also have six ‘GP equivalent level’ clinicians – including three triage nurse practitioners, two chronic disease nurse specialists and a specialist paramedic – as well as treatment room nursing and phlebotomy. Embedded staff working in the Practice include a substance use nurse; pharmacists and pharmacy technicians; and Community Linkworkers. Our care home resident patients are cared for by a dedicated local health board team, with support from our Care Home Lead GP. 

We have sound support in place for emergencies – with a specialist paramedic and other members of our large team always available – and well-stocked, accessible emergency kits. You won’t find yourself managing an emergency on your own here.

We have four supportive GP partners, a great call handling team and other usual operational support staff. Feedback from our team is that we’re a genuinely welcoming and well-organised Practice, with mature processes in place.

We’re located close to both Edinburgh City Centre and East Lothian’s fabulous beaches. The Practice is located in a purpose-built health centre with plentiful consulting rooms, kitchen, sun terrace and onsite parking. Sweet treats are always on hand and welcome boxes are provided to all new team members. We make sure all new team members have a settling in period, to get used to Practice processes, IT etc. Fixed term team members are fully involved in Practice life.

We make time for your professional development. As an accredited training Practice we have three experienced GP trainers in the team and both mentoring and regular clinical catch-ups with colleagues are very much part of our weekly life at Riverside. CPD time is built into your working week and if you have special areas of interest you want to develop, there are opportunities to take on relevant quality improvement projects with support from GP Partners.

We welcome newly qualified GPs – our last five ST3s have continued on to permanent roles at the Practice, which we like to think is a good sign! We’re also adept at supporting people through the transition from ST3.

Please contact Helen on 0131 446 4060 / 07411 269 315 or helen.marsden@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk to arrange an informal visit and chat with one of our GP partners. Paid locum shifts are available if you’d like to get a feel for what it’s like to work here

We look forward to hearing from you!