Can you believe we are already past the middle of January? Where does the time go? It’s the weekend again and time to have another look at the comments our patients have left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Friends and Family Test this week. What will we learn this week?
The phone lines need to be sorted asap and the length of the queue for the 5 is not enough
We completely agree the phone lines are our worst performing area. We have had enough of the phone failures and the system letting us, and more importantly, our patients down. We don’t agree that the queue length with our current phone system should be longer. Patients are often already waiting for a long time and increasing the size of the queue would also increase the time they are waiting. We are working on getting a better system in place and are excited about this. However, there are several hurdles in the way to getting there and it won’t be any time soon. At the earliest that would be March or April depending on how quickly we can receive a quote and permission for the work required to put it in place.
The lead in time before you actually go into the waiting to be answered queue is too long.
I.e there’s no need to ask questions in relation to the caller on whether or not someone is or maybe having a stroke.
We are hoping to improve the message, but disagree about the need to have a message directing people to emergency services instead of waiting in the queue. Although most people would consider this common sense, when people end up in an emergency situation, common sense isn’t always available to them. Panic takes over and they will need that prompt to call 999. It has happened that people have waited patiently in a queue and wasting their valuable time when they should have contacted 999 immediately.
I had bloods all come back normal but don’t explain why I haven’t come on my period since the end of October plus have constant pains in lower stomach but no period
Blood tests don’t always answer why something is happening but can exclude some of the reasons only. If the tests don’t give a solution and the patient is still concerned, we would advise them to seek help again. There may not be an answer as to why, but it may help to put someone’s mind at ease. The Patient Satisfaction Survey is not suitable for this purpose.
My daughter phoned surgery .I was givena call back and an appointment for that day.
I was xrayed at BDG hospital the next day
Can not fault Dr Sam as she was very helpful and understanding but as for anything else it was stressful and much more complicated than needed to be.
The nurse I saw was great and very friendly x
Thank you for the service and help I received from the doctor very much appreciated
Was given the I.heart number told to ring 4:00-600 for app the service cut me off over 36 times . Apparently this is because at 4:00pm all the apps had gone . Leaving me no other option that 111 which again failed to meet time requirements and still waiting for call. Now having to go find a walk in centre which if I had known that the out of hours service was full would have gone first thing this morning to queue.
I am sorry this is a bad review. The receptionist was very pleasant that handled the call and I do know the problems surgeries have having worked in one for over 40 years. This is the message I got after being assessed by a health professional
Dear parent/guardian,
Following an assessment of need by a clinician, you are advised to contact i-Heart between 4 and 6 pm today. You can contact them on 01226 242419
Thanks,
Grimethorpe Surgery
This to me gave me the confidence that I would get to speak to somebody between4:00-6:00pm and get their ears sorted out. I rang at 4:00 pm on the dot . To be cut off over 40 times . Nothing to say all appointments had had been taken. I have been told by PALs they are very busy but that’s no excuse, we are all busy . A child should have some priority. I therefore had no option but to ring 111 all details were taken and was informed would have a call back within 1 hour! That failed I rang again and they said would be getting a call back but would not give a timescale! Still waiting over 2.5 hours so now decided that a walk in centre would be best and I would have done that at 8:00am this morning if I had firstly known how hard it was to get an out of hours appointment . This is why so many go to A & E
May I suggest that walk in centres are highlighted as a route before 4:00pm. I am a very worried grandparent and no you can’t say anything about patient but you can comment on services and problems that have occurred today with accessing treatment for my grandchild
Although this grandparent describes their review as a bad one, we actually feel it is a really helpful one and love the suggestion of adding the walk-in centre route as an option. We have now added that as an option to the message. Thank you for your feedback.
I had a lady called Jackie see me. I felt more relaxed having a woman to discuss my issues with. She was amazing she took her time, she listened to me, she was kind and sympathetic. The appointment didn’t feel rushed it felt to me as if she actually cared. She was brilliant.
Great team at the Practice
I always get an appointment with the nurse for my INR but if it is longer than a month I need to wait and ring up for an appointment as it is usual to have this it should be easier for the nurse to provide the appointment this way the receptionist isn’t overloaded and we don’t have to wait for help etc
Since we have changed to been triaging it’s not good at all there’s been time wen I really needed to see a doctor and they told me to wait till between 4pm and 6pm and ring I heart and I did see a doctor and she was great with me I had cellulitis quite bad my mouth was so very bad n swollen n my right eye was completely closed I was bad for nearly 5 weeks till it got a lot better so I’ve seen a doctor last week for 1st time in months cos of all the changes I like to stick with 1 doctor so I can get use to that doctor and he doesn’t have u replying every time I need to see some thank you
We are sorry this patient is unhappy with the assessment of need system. It is something that NHS England asked practices to implement to improve access to medical care for all. The system relies on an assessment of need to ensure patients who require medical help the most receive it. The demand for appointments is however such that the supply of appointments can’t match this. As such, it is usually not possible to guarantee a patient always sees the same or a preferred clinician. Instead, we try to match the condition/complaint to the most appropriate service or person to deal with it. This isn’t always what the patient wants or hopes for, but we do the best we can with the resources we have to hand.
I gave the docotrs an urgent form they said they would get it back to me the same day fast forward 2 week haven’t hear a thing u til 2 week after the day I was promised to give it back they haven’t done what they should have and now I’m been given a fine because I didn’t hand this form in ( as the doctors never returned it to me )
We can’t comment on this as we don’t know what the urgent form was. There are not a lot of urgent forms around that the GP surgery should fill in and there are none we know of that carries a fine with it. As the patient didn’t leave any contact details, we won’t be able to investigate this further. It is also unlikely the receptionist will have given any promises the form would be returned to the patient the same day. That is most certainly not a reasonable turn-around time we can offer. They may have offered to hand it to a doctor the same day instead.
Difficult to get an appointment by phone I came into the surgery to make appointment it was quicker than trying to phone. Then appointment was for 10 45 didn’t get seen until 11. I have had previous problems getting a GP appointment even when 111 sent a letter to say I needed to be seen within 2 hours. Some improvement needed quickly
We only allow requests for GP appointments over the phone to ensure patient confidentiality, not at the reception desk. The receptionists are not allowed to book the appointments directly, they will pass the details on to a clinician for an assessment of need instead. We also believe there will have been a misunderstanding here as NHS 111 doesn’t send us letters to state the patient needs to be seen within 2 hours. This isn’t something they can stipulate as they have no insight into the work pressures at the surgery at that exact time. Instead, they will state “to contact service provider within 2 hours – chosen provider: Grimethorpe Surgery”. This means that they advise the patient to contact the surgery (or another service) within a set period. If NHS 111 believes the patient needs to be seen at the surgery on the same day, they will book that (telephone) appointment directly. They have 2-3 appointments available every day to book directly where they feel this is appropriate. We apologise this patient was seen 15 minutes past their appointment time. There can be many reasons why a GP or other clinician runs behind. An emergency can have cropped up, or a previous patient needed a longer time than had been booked for them.
Excellent consultation with Doctor Spits yesterday, took the time to explain to both me and my husband my condition and did a thorough medication review I requested
I couldn’t get through via telephone I was waiting over 10 mins I sent accurex dr maters was really efficient
And now it’s time for the results from our Friends and Family Test this week:
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 had good care and nurses were very supportive
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
I haven’t anything to say
What are we doing particularly well?
Staff are very helpful and friendly
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Maybe home visit when needed
Regarding the statement on home visits, where there is a medical need for a face-to-face appointment and the patient is housebound, home visits take place. Our nurses are not involved in this, but where there is a need for a nurse to visit a patient, we refer to the district nurses. Someone who only leaves the house to go shopping, or to go to the hairdresser, or if a family member takes them, is not housebound.
And that concludes the feedback we have received this week. Although most people are happy with the services, they don’t leave a comment. We had some helpful comments this week too and made changes because of them.
Thank you to all our patients who take the time to answer the survey. Your views are important and help us to improve our services further. It is very much appreciated.
