Everyone’s hoping for a happy, healthy and safe festive season here in Davidson’s Mains- but just in case, we’ve put together all the information you need about doctors, pharmacies and local council services over the Christmas and New Year period.

Medical

Your local GP practice will be closed for four days over Christmas (Saturday, December 24 to Tuesday, December 27) and four days over New Year (Saturday, December 31 to Tuesday, December 3).

To find your nearest GP practices, dentists, opticians and pharmacies, click here.

The Minor Injuries Clinic at the Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh will remain open seven days a week from 8.00am to 9.00pm and no appointment is necessary.

It is staffed by specialist practitioners and offers the following services:

• Treatment for a wide range of injuries, such as cuts, burns, sprains, and simple fractures for patients aged over one year
• Advice and health promotion is offered to all patients who attend
• Where appropriate / indicated: X-rays of limb injuries for patients aged 12 years and over, physiotherapy referrals, tetanus vaccination and simple analgesia

You can click here to see the map showing the location of the hospital.

Call the Minor Injuries Clinic on 0131 537 1330.

If you need medical advice when your GP practice is closed and cannot wait until your surgery is open please call:

• NHS 24
  08454 24 24 24
• Text phone users:18001 08454 24 24 24
• If English is not your first language and you need the assistance of a translator to access NHS 24, tell the person answering the call the language you speak. The call with then be linked as soon as possible to a translation service.

Lothian Unscheduled Care Service provides out-of hours medical services for all of Lothian, though these are not walk in centres.

You must phone NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24 where the nurse adviser, if necessary, will arrange for an appointment for you.

Depending on the outcome of the assessment by NHS 24 you will either be seen by appointment at one of five out-of-hours centres which are located across Lothian or when necessary, in your own home.

For more details about the service, click here.

General advice and information on how to stay healthy this winter can be found here or contact NHS inform on 0800 22 44 88.

Support is also available for people with mental health or psychological problems by phoning Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or Breathing Space on 0800 83 8587 (6 pm to 2am).

In the event of any life threatening illness or injury, call 999.

Social Care services

Social care community teams will be operating an emergency service only on January 3 and 4.

If you need help out of hours or on public holidays call free on 0800 731 6969.

If there is a child or adult at risk of harm, contact:

• Police 0131 311 3131
• In an emergency 999
• 24 hour domestic abuse helpline 0800 027 1234

Council services/winter weather

For the council’s information on winter weather, click here. http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/winterweather

See more advice and information here.

For council house repairs, Repairs Direct will not be available on January 2 and 3.  

If you are a Council tenant and need an emergency repair out of hours or on these public holidays please call 0131 200 2000.

Refuse collection and recycling

For residents living in the Edinburgh area there will be no change to collection dates for green wheelie bins/ black sack collections, food waste bins and red and blue boxes over the festive period.

However, residents are reminded that there will be no garden waste collections or special uplifts between Monday, December 26 and Monday, Friday, January 6. Normal service will resume on Monday, January 9.

Again this year, residents will be able to recycle their real Christmas trees at the kerbside, no matter where they live:

• Those who live in a brown bin area should place their Christmas tree next to their bin on their January pick up day.
• Those who don't have a brown bin can place their tree beside their communal rubbish bin on their normal collection day from 9 - 20 January.
• Residents should place their Christmas tree at the kerbside by 7am on the collection day.
• Remove all decorations from the Christmas tree
• Cut the tree into 5ft lengths
• Do not place trees in plastic bags as they will be unable to be recycled.
• Christmas trees can also be recycled at any of Edinburgh's three Community Recycling Centres - these will be closed to the public on the 25-26 December and 1-3 January.

People can find their January pick-up day by entering their postcode here, by emailing waste@edinburgh.gov.uk or phoning 0131 529 3030. For more information on how services may be affected over the festive period visit the council website.

These services may be subject to change in the event of severe weather. For more information on what to do if services are disrupted due to bad weather, visit the council’s severe weather pages.

Car parking charges and restrictions

There are only four parking holidays in Edinburgh: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Easter Monday.

You can park free of charge in public parking bays and on single yellow lines on these dates.

More information on public parking in Edinburgh.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year from everyone here at s1!

Share your messages, news and festive greetings here on s1davidson’s Mains.