IN preparation for the upcoming public holiday on Monday April 18 2022 NHS Borders are advising residents to check their repeat prescription and order only what they need, in plenty of time.

On the public holiday, some community pharmacies will be open which can provide customers with expert advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses and ailments, and give advice about medicines.

These include

Duns – GLM Romanes Ltd - 9am – noon.

Galashiels – Boots 10am – 6om and Tesco - 9am – 6pm

Hawick – Lindsay and Gilmour – 9am – 6pm

Jedburgh – Jedburgh Pharmacy – 8.45am – 5.30pm

Kelso – Lloyds Pharmacy 8.30am – 5.30pm

Lauder – Lauder Pharmacy 9am – 1pm and 2 pm – 6pm

Selkirk – Lindsay and Gilmour 9am – 6pm.

Many Health Centres and GP Practices in the Borders will be closed for the public holiday on Monday 18 April 2022.

The following practices will be open:

Coldstream - Coldstream Medical Practice

Galashiels - Roxburgh Street Medical Practice

Kelso – Kelso Medical Practice

Lauder - Stow & Lauder Medical Practice

Stow - Stow & Lauder Medical Practice

NHS Borders say that if you need health advice or treatment for non-life threatening conditions, please call your GP surgery during opening times or NHS 24 on 111, day or night if the practice is closed.

NHS 24 will assess you by telephone and refer you to the right care at the right place. This could include self-care, community pharmacy or referral into the flow centre at the BGH for a clinical assessment. This will avoid you having to make any unnecessary trips to hospital and it also ensures that our specialists in the Emergency Department are available to treat people who require emergency medical care for life threatening conditions.

If it is an emergency you should still call 999 as you did before or come to the Emergency Department, where our team will be able provide you with emergency medical care.

If you have coronavirus symptoms, self-isolate and book a PCR test. Do not go to your GP, pharmacy or hospital.

You should stay at home until you get the result of the test, and then follow the advice you will be given based on the result.

If you need a sick note due to coronavirus, you don’t need to contact your GP or NHS 24. You can download a sick/isolation note directly from the NHS Inform website.