This week at the surgery has seen a lot of unhappiness amongst staff and clinicians. We suspect our patients have been equally dissatisfied. One of our main GPs has spent a week away from the practice on annual leave, leaving the remaining GP partner to cope with all the work. This is not an unusual situation as the same happens when that partner is on annual leave. It appears that during the week there has been a substantial increase in the demand for appointments while this was already reduced. All those working in the practice were faced with increased patient dissatisfaction and anger.
There have been shouts from our team that the appointment system we introduced in April this year, doesn’t work. Receptionists hate it, some doctors hate it, and patients hate it. However, many receptionists do prefer the current system, and patients too. Some clinicians believe this is a better system too.
Whatever the case, it is obvious we will need to review our current appointment system and search hard for how we can improve the system to serve our patients best while keeping the stress levels for all our staff to a minimum. It’s impossible to remove all stress, after all.
Hopefully, a look at the comments made on our Patient Satisfaction Survey will help us find ways to find a solution to the problem.
The grimethorpe surgery is very good and very helpful the staff are very very good but the phone call to get a doctor is diabolical
Thank you for your comment, and we agree our phone system could still do with improvement, however, we have reached the limit of what the current system can provide and are unable to currently switch providers.
When I make a phone call to see a doctor that is the only reason for me to make that call having to then ring 111 and go to the A&E is unacceptable
We can’t comment on individual cases and don’t know what happened here. Unfortunately, there may be reasons why this is necessary. For instance when our capacity is reached, or if the problem is one that the surgery can’t deal with and needs A&E attention instead. As mentioned, we don’t know what happened here, so can’t say why this patient ended up in this situation.
Always pleased with the way the staff
Operate very caring and efficient
We are glad to hear this patient’s experience. Although some patients may feel we don’t care, we certainly do and we are glad this came across on this occasion.
I have no complaints, and was completely satisfied with the service’s from the receptionists to the medical care and attention given by the GP.in question .
Good follow up with nurse – very caring and attentive
Improve appointment scheduling to obtain one
We wonder if this last patient has any suggestion on how this could be improved. Even with any changes we make to improve our appointment system, it is unlikely all patients who want an appointment will be able to have one.
I suppose the new triage system is better than the previous call at
8am for an appointment system. Being able to call the surgery when you
Feel ill rather than have to wait overnight till the next morning is an
Improvement.
Whatever we changes we make, we’ll need to try our best to safeguard this ability in our current system. There is a lot we need to consider and discuss.
As per usual (with a certain doctor) it seems he just wants you out the door asap without actually exploring options with you. Seems to just give the easiest way (for him) to see you, and then say goodbye. Dr Bell in the future for me (I have seen him many times in the past) as the man really cares and helps you to understand what will happen and possible reasons for your medical conditions
We are sorry to hear this patient has had a negative experience with one of our doctors, but pleased he has found Dr Bell helpful. The number of appointments available with Dr Bell has however decreased and we may not be able to offer this patient appointments with him when he needs an appointment.
Was supposed to see dr in 12 hours as 111 told me to ring didn’t see doctor till week after
We’re afraid this will have been a misunderstanding. The advice NHS 111 gives is to contact your surgery within 12 hours, this is not the same as to be seen within 12 hours. We come across this problem quite frequently, I’m afraid as most patients perceive contact and appointment with a GP to be the same thing.
We also don’t have the capacity to create appointments when our capacity has been reached and may need to signpost patients to other services when this happens. Where NHS 111 believes it necessary that a patient has a same-day appointment with a GP, there are appointments available in our system specifically for this reason. These appointments can be booked by NHS 111 directly.
Absolutely appalling now, so much better when Dr Ramalu run it, can never ever get to see my doctor & staff rude
We don’t agree with this sentiment. Times have changed and demands on our services from the government, NHS England, and patients have increased. This is not down to one doctor retiring. If our staff is rude, we apologise for this, but we believe they are generally very caring, helpful, and courteous to all our patients and others.
This surgery is hopeless coming down tomorrow for a change of surgeries You rung me and said Doctor says one.30ml bottle is enough IT says 4sprays every 2hours And that’s got to last a month OneBENZYDAMINE OROMUCOSAL IS ENOUGH FOR A MONTH IS A JOKE Who is my doctor because on my families life not got a clue HAVE HAD THROAT AND neck cancer for 2years And neck AND HAVE NEVER SEEN A DOCTOR AT THIS SURGERY NURSES YES MCMILLAN NURSES YES YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW UPSET I AM DONT BELIEVE YOU READ THESE BUT IF BY A MIRACLE YOU DO SHOW IT MY DOCTOR WHO EVER THAT IS
We are sorry to hear this patient has had difficulties, and we have sent an email to apologise for this. We will investigate was has happened and feed back to the patient once we know.
If you notice our response to this and believe our Patient Satisfaction Survey is the way to complain about our service, no it is not. We have a complaints procedure in place and information is available at reception and on the website.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
I got an appointment fairly quick
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Yes and no
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Time waiting on the phone
Phones remain a problem. We will continue to look at better options, but cannot currently change our providers.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely Unlikely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Because no idea who my doctor is
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
ITS GONE DOWN DRASTICALLY LAST FEW YEARS THATS WHY I WANT ANOTHER SURGERY SOON AS POSSIBLE
What are we doing particularly well?
No idea
Unsurprisingly, this comment on our Friends and Family Test came from the same patient as the one who had experienced problems we will investigate further. We are sorry he feels so unhappy with our services and continually look for ways to improve our services.
On the matter of who your doctor is, although you will be registered with a certain GP in name (either Dr Maters or Dr Sakellaropoulos), you will not see only that doctor. You may see any doctor working at the surgery.
Conclusions:
- The phone system continues to cause problems for our patients, but there isn’t much we can improve on that as we can’t currently switch providers. Even with a different provider, problems would likely persist, but hopefully would improve.
- There are many patients who are happy with our services and appointment system, but there are also several who are not. Improvement is needed to both and we need to explore ways to do that.
- We do read all your comments on the Patient Satisfaction Survey, even if you may believe we don’t. The above-mentioned comments clearly show that.
