GP led walk-in services monthly
Month ending 31 August 2026

About this release

This monthly release from Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents statistics relating to the number of monthly cases at pilot NHS GP led walk-in centres. A case is used to identify each visit to the walk-in service. Any follow-up visits are counted as new cases.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to open a network of GP led walk-in services and the first centre opened on the 10 February 2026 in NHS Lothian. The aim of this service is to improve access to urgent primary care and reduce pressure on traditional GP practices and hospitals. This allows patients to see a GP and/or Advanced Nurse Practitioner on the same day without needing an appointment, focusing on urgent, on-the-day medical needs.

The start dates for these centres have been phased, and some centres have been open longer than others. Centres have different opening hours and patient criteria, so direct comparisons of activity levels between centres should not be made. Information on the aim of the pilot service and the opening hours and eligibility for each centre can be found on NHS Inform.

At the end of August, eleven centres had opened, of which ten had been operational for the full month of August: NHS Borders (Hawick), NHS Dumfries & Galloway (Stranraer), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (Cardonald, Glasgow), NHS Grampian (Aberdeen city), NHS Highland (Dunoon, Invergordon), NHS Lothian (Wester Hailes), NHS Tayside (Lochee), NHS Shetland (Lerwick) and NHS Western Isles (Benbecula).

Data from these centres are collected via existing GP practice systems. Please note that all data remains provisional and is subject to ongoing quality assurance checks with data providers.  

After discussion with local partners, PHS has identified differences in GP IT system configurations across NHS board GP led walk-in centres, which have led to variation in how consultations are recorded. To ensure clarity and reliability, figures are presented for cases only.

Main points

• For the ten walk-in centres that had been open for the full month of August, 4,745 cases were reported.
• A total of 15,475 cases were reported across all GP led walk-in centres between the opening of the first centre on 10 February 2026 and the end of August 2026.

Background

In-line with the Scottish Government's First 100 Days commitment, additional walk-in services plan to open.

Future publications will incorporate statistics from centres once they have been open for a full calendar month.  

National evaluation work on this pilot will be undertaken by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), focused on questions relating to effectiveness, appropriateness and cost of the walk-in services.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 27 October 2026.