DIRECT patient access to arrange same-day appointments with the Care When It Counts (CWIC) Service is being piloted at Inveresk Medical Practice in Musselburgh.

If successful, it could be rolled out to the other three East Lothian medical practices the service currently supports – Riverside in Musselburgh; Tranent; and The Harbours in Cockenzie.

Based at Musselburgh Primary Care Centre, the CWIC Service’s clinical team consists of nurses (advanced nurse practitioners and nurse practitioners), physician associates and GPs.

Collectively, they provide a same-day, primary care appointment service offering assessments, diagnosis and treatment for a range of non-recurring acute illnesses.

The CWIC team are qualified to assess health needs and determine plans for immediate or ongoing care, meaning patients can be provided with a prescription, health advice or an onward referral to a specialist team.

A spokesperson for East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) said that recent patient feedback indicated a “strong desire” for patients to be able to contact CWIC directly to arrange an appointment rather than going through their general practice.

'Aim is to extend direct access'

They said: “This initiative aims to address this request.

“Trialling such a significant change with Inveresk Medical Practice allows ELHSCP to carefully monitor and evaluate the impact direct access can have on patient experience, as well as administration efficiencies within the CWIC team and Inveresk Medical Practice.

“If successful, the aim is to extend direct access to the patients at the other three partner practices in due course.”

The spokesperson added: “This change comes during a period when the public sector is experiencing significant financial pressures following the Scottish Government budget statement last December 2023.

“On March 28, East Lothian’s Integration Joint Board (IJB) agreed a savings recovery plan to bridge a funding gap of over £10 million, which included reductions in funding to many services across the health and social care partnership, including the CWIC service.”

Fiona Wilson, chief officer and joint director of ELHSCP, added: “The financial recovery plan agreed by the IJB required difficult decisions to be made to deliver a balanced budget.

“Numerous service reviews have identified means of delivering operational efficiencies, which has enabled our continued commitment and delivery of frontline services to the people of East Lothian.

“While a budget reduction has been applied to the CWIC service, internal efficiencies and the positive impact of team members completing professional clinical training earlier this year will limit the impact the funding reduction will have on patient service capacity and the allocation of appointments for partner practices.

“The aim of the CWIC direct access pilot is to improve patient choice, maximise appointment scheduling and reduce the demand on general practice telephony systems, providing an enhanced quality of care for patients.”