This week has been very challenging for staff at the practice. We are still having problems with one of our clinical team members being off sick, while others are away studying or on annual leave. Although we would usually be okay with one person being absent, it has been a little more than usual with the sickness too, and our receptionists have been pulling their hair out trying to rearrange appointments because of sickness. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our patients.
So, let’s look at the comments our patients left for us this week. We suspect we may find some grumbles.
This surgery is the best I’ve used and I’ve lived in barnsley 42 years the doctors actually listen to you and they try there best to help unlike most doctors I’ve been to
The lady doctor I saw was amazing I think her name was Dr Sam
When yery well good information and advice. Answering all questions I had. Booked follow up appointment there and then. Received confirmation soon after. Excellent service with the well informed professional friendly nurse
Well done.
Always receive excellent service and this time was no different
I had a good visit to doctors but was very disappointed when l needed a blood test l had to get someone to book It on line l rang all day and noone replied love got to wait 3 weeks
Unfortunately, the practice can’t currently do blood tests for our patients where that is the sole reason for their visit. Our capacity is reduced, which means we can’t do the extra work that is not part of our contract and we’re not paid for. Once our capacity is restored, we will review the situation, but currently immediate patient care needs to take priority over non-contractual services like phlebotomy. All patients who require a blood test only will need to have this done at the Glassworks in town. Where the blood test is part of a review (like your diabetic, hypertension or medication review), this will still take place at the surgery. INR blood tests will also continue at the surgery for our patients who receive this service from us.
Need a better appointment system cause its really hard to get an appointment when you work but when you get to the surgery the waiting room is empty and that is between 4 and 5 o’clock
The practice only offers limited appointments between 4 and 5 pm because of the availability of clinicians at that time of day. Most days, the last appointments are at 5 pm. The surgery closes at 6 pm in Cudworth and 6.30 pm in Grimethorpe, but this doesn’t mean we will have appointments until the end of the day. The clinicians also need time to deal with all the paperwork related to their appointments and any other patient-related paperwork that arrives at the practice. Because the building closes at 6.30 pm, they can’t stay beyond that time either. Too often, the GPs will need to take work home with them. And that while they have been at work from 6 or 7 am already to deal with paperwork before their surgery starts. We provide appointments early on 3 mornings a week, but these are telephone appointments only. (Monday and Friday for medication reviews and Wednesday for normal telephone appointments). We realise it would be beneficial to our patients if we opened early every day for face-to-face appointments and worked until at least 8 pm on evenings, but this is not manageable. That’s why iHeart exists. To offer appointments outside of the normal opening hours and to increase capacity in primary care. They even provide cervical smears during the weekend for those ladies who struggle to get to the surgery during the week. A referral from the practice is needed for this to take place.
No need to change a good thing, always happy with service and cheerfull reception
Waiting time in surgery is ridiculous never ever once have I been seen on the allotted time sometimes waiting upto 45min
We apologise for keeping patients waiting past their allotted appointment times. It is unavoidable that delays occur in a day. The first appointments of a session usually start relatively on time. Anything can happen to cause a delay. The problem a patient presented with was rather complex and took more than the allotted time. Or an emergency cropped up. Or something that appeared simple at first, turned out to need a lot more time. Sometimes patients will bring a shopping list to the appointment. Although we only allow one problem and one patient per appointment, sometimes rules need to be broken as a problem on the list needs urgent attention. And what about a patient in distress? This may also cause delays. Our clinicians try to keep to the appointment times as much as possible. They don’t like running late either. But sometimes it can’t be avoided. Next time it could be you who needs that extra time.
I attended today to discuss issues with my mental health. Initially I was told an appointment may not be available however i received an appointment link which i accepted. I explained my situation to the GP I saw being honest and open that I am finding it very difficult to cope at the moment and have had suicidal thoughts. Her response was that I was no longer a part of the practice (I was unaware of this) and that no help could be offered other than a crisis help number. I feel i have been extremely let down by the practice. If i am no longer part of the practice why was an appointment offered? Why was i not told to register elsewhere?
I don’t know what happened in this situation. A patient who isn’t registered with the practice, can’t make an appointment. However, if they were still registered when they booked an appointment, and then deregistered before the appointment, that might cause this issue. I will look into what happened in this situation and report back on this next week. We apologise to this person for this situation. This should not have happened and we need to avoid this happening again in the future. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention, we will look into it.
Go back to how it used to be, know, when you could actually ring and someone answer and make you an appointment instead of re-dailing 100s of times only to be told all appointments have gone, the staff are brilliant, the system is not working at all and everyone is talking about this
We realise our phone system is causing problems for our patients and the practice. This is why we are working on getting a better system in place. During the last week, we have received correspondence that we will soon receive training on the new system before it is installed. We don’t have a date yet, but hope it will be soon.
didn’t receive an appointment as per usual. always receive a text to say call i heart between 4-6 and obviously can never receive an appointment from them either. 6th time with tonsillitis and just need antibiotics! took over 200 calls to get through aswell.
If you suffer from a sore throat or possible tonsillitis, you can also attend the pharmacy. The new Pharmacy First scheme also is able to deal with sore throats and tonsillitis, and you no longer need to see your GP. They can even prescribe antibiotics if this is the right treatment for your sore throat or tonsillitis.
To find out more about Pharmacy First, you can find information here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first/
Accessing Pharmacy First services
The following table shows the 7 conditions pharmacists can manage across various age ranges.
| Clinical pathway | Age range |
| Acute otitis media* | 1 to 17 years |
| Impetigo | 1 year and over |
| Infected insect bites | 1 year and over |
| Shingles | 18 years and over |
| Sinusitis | 12 years and over |
| Sore throat | 5 years and over |
| Uncomplicated urinary tract infections | Women 16-64 years |
* Distance selling pharmacies will not complete consultations for acute otitis media.
Patients will be able to access the 7 clinical pathways element via referrals from referring organisations including general practice, urgent and emergency care settings, and NHS 111 (online and via telephone). In addition, for the 7 common conditions clinical pathway consultations only, patients can access the service by attending or contacting the pharmacy directly without the need for referral.
GP was thorough, asked questions relating to health issue and listened.
Lovely friendly nurse with good advise and information
Only suggestion I can make would please change the music on your answering service I love classical music but the current music you have on the phone service is dreadful .
Once we have the new phone system in place, we will have more pieces of music to choose from. We hope this will be an improvement too.
First it was really difficult to get an appointment with the on line link they gave me to try I had to ring the doctors numerous occasions and literally was in tears before I finally got an appointment. Then I never received a text message saying I had been booked in until after my appointment. It was only on off chance I really needed an appointment I called in person to the reception and they said oh you are booked in at 3 15 today. The doctor was helpful and tested mynoxygen levels ect and recommended a 24 hour blood pressure monitor he said someone will contact me . Waiting on a message .
Over the last week, we have had reports from several patients that when they tried the booking link, it just kept spinning. This is unusual. When this happens, it may be an issue with the internet or internet connection, or it may be that the third-party system we use for this is overwhelmed. We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. Regarding the 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, we only have a few monitors available and there is a waiting list for this. It may be a few weeks before a patient will receive a message to say one is ready for them.
I could not complete this survey on my phone for some reason. It was not possible to select any of the options in the first few questions.
We don’t know why that would be. I’ve just tried on my phone and it works okay there. Perhaps it depends on the settings in your phone browser, or it may not work on all phones. We apologise for the inconvenience, and thank you for your feedback.
And now it’s time to look at the results from the 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? | Good doctors |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Not sure |
| 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? | Courtesy and good service. |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Same as before good service |
| What are we doing particularly well? | More thorough with explanations |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Care is good. |
| 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? | We have no problem |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | A little |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Good reseptionists |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Dont know really |
It appears there was no reason for us to be concerned about the results of the Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Friends and Family Test. Most patients were happy with the service provided and left positive feedback. We will need to investigate some of the issues raised and will feedback on these next week. Thank you for taking the time to fill in the survey, it is much appreciated.
