Lothian Unscheduled Care Service (LUCS) provides out of hours general medical services to the population of Lothian and temporary residents. LUCS has been operating as a service since October 2004.

It provides primary care services to patients when local GP practices are closed (6pm – 8am Monday to Friday and 24 hours a day at weekends and on public holidays).

LUCS covers a patient population of approximately 887,600 across the City of Edinburgh and throughout East, West and Midlothian.

Clinical services provided by LUCS clinicians include patient assessment and treatment: by telephone triage; telephone advice to patients; direct face to face consultations in a primary care emergency centre (PCEC) and where necessary on home visits. From time to time clinicians are also required to provide other clinical support: examples include major incident responses, public health measures and response to events such as pandemic alerts.