Today an early start on our report on the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey. The last two weeks at the surgery have been rather trying. With planned annual leave and unplanned sick leave of others, last-minute changes needed making and this impacted our capacity and appointment availability. Stress levels for the clinicians and staff members have been high while they provided our patients with the best care possible. Our receptionists received several grumbles from our patients unhappy with the reduced capacity. We wonder if this will also be reflected in the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey and Friends and Family Test.
She is the best doctor I have ever seen and she given me very good advice she was very thorough and helped with both my physical and mental health thank you very much
Unfortunately, this patient did not inform us who they had seen. ‘Doctor’ suggests a GP, in which case it is likely the patient meant our new salaried GP, Dr Mba (pronounced ‘Oombah’). However, some patients refer to our Advanced Nurse Practitioner or our Physician Associate as doctors too. It is also possible this was feedback on another week and the patient referred to Dr Sam. Both clinicians are also females. We are pleased to hear this patient was happy with the service provided.
Had a appointment with Jackie ,who was was thorough and kind
A little disappointed I have to go to the glasshouse in Barnsley for a blood test when I used to get them at the surgery in Cudworth. It means I will have to pay for petrol and parking when I could just walk to the surgery before. It will also take up more of my time. I could have gone to Grimethorpe but this was not offered.
Unfortunately, phlebotomy (taking bloods), is not a part of the GMS (GP) contract. We have always carried this out for our patients where it relates to blood tests we have requested ourselves. We often also did so for hospital-requested blood tests but needed to pass those back to the hospital or The Glassworks some time ago already. We simply don’t have the capacity to provide this (unpaid-for) service. With Gemma away on training for her nursing degree top-up, our capacity is severely reduced and we need to even ask our patients who attend for blood tests only, to go to the Glassworks. If the blood test is not the only thing that is needed, e.g. a patient who attends for an annual review and needs blood tests, blood pressure check, and possibly other investigations, they will attend for the blood test at the surgery too. We need to ensure all our patients receive the care they need and deserve and this means we will need to signpost some to other services where appropriate to ensure all patients get the care they deserve. INR blood tests (finger pricks) still happen at the surgery.
Personally I would like my prescription to go automatically to pharmacy or go back to ordering them over the phone .
We can understand our patients would love it if we could just send their prescription to the pharmacy automatically without them needing to lift a finger. This is, however, not a real possibility for the surgery. It is not easy to set up a system to search for those patients whose prescription is due and issue them, then send them to the GP for signing. Some people have ‘repeat dispensing’. This means that their prescriptions are issued in batches of 4 or more at a time. They are then released to the pharmacy when the next one is due. This is not possible for all patients or for all prescriptions. It only works if patients are on regular medication on a stable dose and don’t go on holidays (as that upsets the system, causing excessive work for the practice, pharmacy, GP). The system gets upset whenever there is a change in dose of medication or when new medication is added, or when medication is stopped. It also doesn’t work for medication that is only used ‘when needed’. Repeat dispensing is not used often within the practice as there aren’t a lot of patients whose prescription is suitable for it.
We don’t offer telephone ordering of medication in principle. There are several problems attached with telephone ordering. The most important ones are the risk of mishearing the order and not ordering what was required, and the phone lines becoming even harder to navigate for our patients. The lines are already extremely busy and this would become a lot worse if we allowed ordering over the phone.
Why not use the NHS App to order your prescriptions? It makes life so much easier for you as the patient as you can do so any time of the day, irrespective of whether the practice is open or closed. If you don’t have a device suitable for the NHS App, you can also do so via the NHS website. You can find it here: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/login.
Seen very quickly and given medication. Dr Lannon was very friendly and professional.
I don’t know what doctor I saw I think dr matters however he was not helpful in the slightest I told him I was depressed and didn’t know what I wanted to do tomorrow never mind later on in life as I am struggling to live each day as it comes and he told me he didn’t know what he could do for me so to go home and come back next week I just don’t see how you can send a 17 year old who’s recent come of of a DA relationship and is having symptoms of ptsd and is struggling every day to keep going away to come back next week after being told that Barnsley talking therapy’s discharged me due to my mental health is due to the DA
We have actually checked this claim out as the patient left their contact details. We can inform you it wasn’t Dr Maters this patient saw, but another clinician. We have spoken to the clinician involved about this who has reflected on their practice. This is a repeat feedback we have received and we checked it previously, and even informed the patient of the mistaken identity. Barnsley Talking Therapies and IDAS are the appropriate services for PTSD and domestic abuse and we hope patients will receive the support they need from these services.
And now over to the results of our Friends and Family Test:
| 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? | Always been good with dad having vascular dementia, work appointment around my work due to my brother not driving so I bring dad to his appointments! |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Never had a problem but phoning a lot better! |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Everything |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Just keep doing what you are doing |
| How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment? | Extremely likely |
|---|
| 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? | Very happy with surgery. Always very helpful and polite |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Absolutely. Great communication |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Great communication |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Not sure |
| 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 am always treated with respect and they are always helpful to me |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | I don’t contact the surgery very often but I always get results for what I ring for |
| How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment? | Extremely likely |
|---|---|
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Yes |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Customer service is really good really friendly. If I want privacy I go to the side and speak to the receptionist which has helped me loads |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Nothing the girls are amazing especially Heleen |
| 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? | You always try your best |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | No |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Everything |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Telephone |
Conclusions:
- Mixed responses, but most people appear happy with our service
- The telephone remains an issue
- Most patients recognise we do all within our power to provide our patients with the best service possible.
Obviously, these conclusions are based on the feedback received and it excludes the view of people who have not provided feedback to us. We will continue to do our best and it lifts our spirits to know patients are mostly happy with our service.
