It’s Saturday again and time to find out what lessons we can learn from the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Friends and Family Test. Are you ready to have a look what comments we have received?
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Just happy with the treatment
And the information.
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Yes
What are we doing particularly well?
More information
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Always room for improvement in most things
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’ve never had any issues and you have a variety of different doctors
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Not sure not been for a while
What are we doing particularly well?
Not sure
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
It is hard to get an appointment
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Unlikely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Took me 2 weeks to get an appointment with my doctor and suffering for over two months with a sinus and ear infection.
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Not really
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
You need to start testing patients who suffer with sinus issues with a swap that is sent off to determine if they have a bacterial infection or have an infection at all. I have suffered 2 month with infection due antibiotics not working I have had time off work nobody knew if the infection had cleared up so what is the simple answer ? TEST.
Unfortunately, the demand for appointments far outstretches the appointments available. This is a nationwide problem. We signpost to appropriate services and assess needs to use the capacity we have in the best way possible. I suspect this patient wasn’t told to try again tomorrow (as we no longer give this advice), but was signposted to i-Heart instead. i-Heart is an extension of primary care and provides the much-needed extra capacity within primary care. It also provides out-of-hours services. Although we agree swabbing and testing of samples is the way forward for most recurrent or persistent infections, it isn’t possible to swab a sinus. Nasal swabs don’t tend to add much value except in specific circumstances.
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?
Dr Sam is a very good dioctor and someone I can feel comfortable with and didn’t rush you away.
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Depends you you have
What are we doing particularly well?
Got some lovely nurses
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Appointments you should be able to see you you feel comfortable with
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
friendly and timely approach
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Yes
What are we doing particularly well?
providing a range of practitioners to ensure treatments are initiated in a timely and appropriate manner.
using alternative method of communication to arrange no appointments rather than relying solely on the telephone e.g. text, internet etc.
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Venepuncture skills need updating
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Efficient, friendly and professional.
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Same
What are we doing particularly well?
Quick response and appointment available within days.
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Telephone response can be slow and difficult but I assume that is because of the number of patients requiring advice
is quite high.This patient is correct. The phone lines are extremely busy as everyone seems to phone at the same time to request advice or help. If our phone system is to be believed (I just ran a quick search of it), there were 12800 calls to the surgery (Grimethorpe alone) between Monday 8 am and Friday 6.30 pm last week. A further search showed there were 4900 calls made to Grimethorpe alone between Tuesday 8 am and Tuesday 9 am. Perhaps this makes it clear why it is so difficult to get through to us on the telephone. People are facing strong competition to get through to us on the phone.
My child had an appointment with dr Mather’s, at the appointment he couldn’t tell me what the rash was or what was wrong with my child, we went away not knowing what was wrong with the patient and I think that is poor coming from a doctor who should know. When we got home the child was getting worse and still couldn’t keep water or food down and the rash continued to spread to her face. We ended up in a&e a few hours later and the doctors there gave tanti botics for Scarlett fever.
It isn’t always possible to give a diagnosis at the first presentation. Sometimes, it will take time for the full picture to develop and things to become clear. As the parent mentions, the rash spread which may have made the picture clearer. Although this patient feels it is poor coming from a doctor to admit he doesn’t know what something is, we actually believe honesty is the best thing. No one knows everything and telling someone you don’t know is better than acting as though you do when you don’t. Within the medical world, we often say that a specialist knows everything about a little bit, whereas a GP knows a little bit about everything. No one can know everything. This is where the phrase GPs often end a consultation with comes in, ‘If it doesn’t get better, or if it gets worse, please seek medical attention again.”
I got a face to face with my doctor after a text message from using the nhs app excellent service and care from reception and doctor
I find it ridiculous that I had to go through NHS 111 just to get an appointment with a GP for antibiotics. Signposting my to the iHeart service when I called the surgery at 8am shouldn’t have been the outcome on not 1 but 2 days running. Having made 200 calls to the in 45 minutes to then get a message saying all appointments had been taken.
With the capacity available on the day, GPs need to make an assessment of what problems need to be seen in the GP surgery and which can be signposted elsewhere. The capacity available isn’t the same every day of the week. Although we fight against this and ask everyone not to use same-day appointments in advance, on occasion people will do so, leaving us with even less capacity than we thought we would have. Sometimes when a GP enters the surgery in the morning and looks at the appointment calendar, only 5 same-day appointments remain for the entire day. This is before the lines open at 8 am. They need to be very selective of what needs to be seen in the surgery, and what can be seen elsewhere instead.
The reception team are very helpful and a special mention to Heleen who always does everything she can to help me and my family. Thank you.
Used the app on my phone to send a message and was offered an immediate appointment
I used the messaging service on my NHS app and got an immediate call back with the offer of an appointment
We are glad to hear the online consultations worked well for these patients. Please remember that it can take up to three working days before we respond. Don’t rely on it for urgent problems.
I’m not sure who the nurse was that took my bloods but she was really lovely and put me at ease thankyou
Filled down in online. It says up to 3 working days for answer. On the fourth I had to phone up. Told me I needed appointment but couldn’t offer one at time. I had to then phone back the following week as I still hadn’t heard anything. Got a call back offering me an appointment next day. When I arrived, I was told it wasn’t until the following week. Arrived at surgery and was told go running 30 Min late. Was seen just before 40min. GP then told me to make an appointment in a month’s time. Reception then told me in not allowed and works have to phone back in a month’s time. Poor from stay to finish
We’re not sure what happened here, but something obviously didn’t go as we want it to go. I will be investigating what happened here to ensure we can learn lessons and improve the process. As we only put our doctor’s appointments on for a week in advance, we cannot book someone in for a month later. The GP should have been aware of this and informed the patient to book this closer to the time. There appears to be a catalogue of misunderstandings here and I will investigate what happened to improve our services with what we learn.
I had 3 appointments 2 were sent to i-heart I only got a face to face because I needed a sick note and I was on the phone for 3 hours
3 hours on the phone appears an excessively long time. We suspect this will be all the times this patient attempted to phone the surgery put together. We would not expect someone to be held in the queue for that long and if you ever are, chances are there is an issue with our phones. We are in the process of changing our phone providers and are hopeful the new system (which will likely take until April to be implemented) will make it easier for patients to contact the surgery by phone. Our online consultations are very suitable for requesting fit notes. The outcome would still have been the same, but the patient would not have wasted 3 hours on the phone.
I don’t use the GP as a rule luckily
However over the last month I had 2 appointments
The appointments were fine and the staff lovely
I called at 8am and was immediately put to number 2 in the queue I then waited 25 minutes to get to number 1 and then a further 23 minutes to get my call answered so 48 minutes to speak to someone . I did receive an appointment after speaking to the receptionist I think something needs to improve there’s been various posts by the surgery apologising for the phone lines and the amount of back lash the staff receive is ridiculous and unfair something needs to change
Thank you. We completely agree. Our phone lines are an absolute downer for our patients and the practice and we are completely fed up with the many failures and the issues that keep arising. Until recently, there was little to nothing we could do. As a practice, we don’t currently hold the contract for the phones, but the ICB does on our behalf. From April, the contract will be handed to the individual practices, which allows us to choose a different provider if we wish. We are currently negotiating with a new provider to put a better system in place that will be to the benefit of our patients as much as the practice. Let’s hope the new system will exactly offer what it informs us it will. We are excited and really can’t wait.
Length of time waiting for to speak to receptionist can be excessive. Also the music whilst on hold is poor. Certainly not soothing for anyone who is feeling unwell.
We can again refer to the above. We also understand there will be more choices of on-hold music than in our current system which only offers us 3 pieces of music to choose from.
I was referred to I heart as there were no appointments available . I think this is a good service but Unfortunately the advanced practitioner who I saw was unable to make a referral , authorise blood tests or access my full medical records. I now need to try and make a gp appointment to try and solve my problem .
Indeed, i-Heart is a great service tailored especially to the more acute problems (other than mental health). They can have access to patient’s medical records, especially important things like allergies, medical conditions, and medications. i-Heart will deal with the acute problem the patient presents with and refer back to the practice if a referral or further investigations are also needed.
Book appointment seen by GP Sam. Very through and listened to my issues. Examined throughly and with care and compassion. Escalated to further specialities for further investigations. Overall excellent after a deflating experience on previous appointment and many thanks to DR
After having a GP appointment for my 16 month old daughter she was not prescribed anything had her symptoms worsened overnight. The following day I went to my local pharmacy where she was given mediation to treat her symptoms free of charge.
Sometimes symptoms worsen over time. The parent took the right action to seek medical attention again when this occurred. We don’t know what the pharmacist prescribed the patient. GPs are no longer supposed to prescribe medication that can be bought over the counter and if this is what the pharmacy provided, the GP couldn’t have issued a prescription for it. If you are interested in what a GP no longer should prescribe but what patients should buy over the counter instead, you can find more information here: https://best.barnsleyccg.nhs.uk/prescribing-guidelines/self-care/84869
No problem with recent appointment as was pre booked. However on 2 recent occasions I have called for an acute reason at 8am to be told I will go on a triage list. Then to be sent a text message advising I ring the out of hours service I wouldn’t call at 8am if I wanted to wait until the out of hours service. Surgery needs more available HCPs in my opinion.
The patient is correct we could do with more healthcare professionals at the surgery. However, we don’t have the space to put those people. In April, we will have a new female GP joining the team, and from February we will have an extra GP on a Friday, too. We struggle with room to put the extra bodies and there will be hot-seating necessary. Although this will hopefully improve our capacity, we will still need to refer patients to i-Heart instead. If you have a problem you feel can’t wait till 4 pm to phone i-Heart, you can also make use of a walk-in centre, or an urgent care centre. NHS111 online is also a good resource.
Mum has only seen the nursing staff for bloods checking n follow ups they’re are marvellous with her she as dementia n can’t remember going 5 mins after she’s left but they go above n beyond I think with the elderly xx
Always efficient and friendly.
Thankyou.
Again, mixed responses this week. Those who were satisfied with the service often didn’t leave a comment. Those that were very happy did, as did those who were unhappy with the services. We know we can’t get it right for everyone, however much we try. This doesn’t stop us from looking for areas we can improve in. Still, most people appear happy with our services.
Those areas highlighted above are:
- The telephone lines – we are working on this, but it likely will not be implemented until April (although we hope it will be earlier)
- Increasing capacity – not an easy task, but we will add a new salaried GP to our team from April and another GP on a Friday from February
- Improve our communication – we will work on this as we wish communication with our patients to be as good as possible
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to fill in our Patient Satisfaction Survey and Friends and Family Test. As always, we really appreciate the time you take to do this.
