Are you enjoying the lovely weather this weekend? Breakfast and lunch in the garden rather than in a stuffy kitchen?
It’s now time again to look at the results our patients have left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey. But before we do, we promised to look into a comment left last week and to find out what happened.
The comment left was as follows:
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 looked into this case and found the practice only became aware of a change of address at the time of the appointment. The patient received appropriate signposting and advice during the appointment. They were also informed that as they no longer lived in the practice area they would need to register with a different practice nearer to where they now lived. Only when we are aware a patient has moved out of the practice area can we request them to registered nearer to where they live. A letter was also sent to the patient that same day to confirm this.
When someone moves out of the practice area, we will advise them to register closer to where they live and they won’t be removed from the practice list until they have registered elsewhere or 28 days after they were informed to register elsewhere. The patient was still registered with the practice when they attended the surgery.
And now to this week’s results:
Got to see the doctor face to face so was happy with seeing a doctor ,Changed my medication and booked in for bloods been done .Got them done at Cudworth surgery Thursday.Thankyou.
Only where blood tests aren’t the sole reason for the attendance will we currently do blood tests at the surgery. All others are referred to the Community Diagnostic Centre in town (Glassworks). The exclusion is for blood tests needed for a 2 week-wait referral and INR tests.
Identified a health issue and this proved to be correct. Took the advice of the practice nurse and GP and received treatment at BDGH.
Was seen by a very nice Dr he treat me with respect listened to me his manners were impeccable
Doctor to explain more clearly what to do and how to go about booking blood tests at glasshouse Barnsley
For those who need this information, this is how you can book your blood test at the Glassworks. They will only do the test if the request has been added on the electronic request system (ICE):
To book your blood tests (for the hospital or the surgery), you can now book your appointments directly by following this link:https://bookwhen.com/barnsley-cdc-phlebotomy-services#focus=ev-sdrh-20230502084500 These will take place at the Community Diagnostic Centre. For further info:https://www.barnsleyhospital.nhs.uk/patients/cdc/ Or you can phone 01226 433963.
No recommendations. Service was excellent on this occasion.
This was my first experience of booking an appointment. I was pleasantly surprised at the speed an appointment was offered. Thank you to all involved.
On this occasion I feel that my needs were met by the GP practice, although it was a follow up from a blood test which was hard to book seeing as these are no longer carried out in the surgery. The advice from my appointment is to have a follow up blood test in 6-8 weeks which will also have to be done in the diagnostic centre in Barnsley. This means I have to have extra time off work as I live & work in Grimethorpe, so what was a 15 minute leave from work is now up to 2 hours including travel.
We recognise our decision to no longer do blood tests at the surgery when this is the only reason for the appointment causes an inconvenience for our patients. However, this service isn’t part of our contract and we previously paid for it out of our own pocket to benefit our patients. These are the services that need to be put on hold first when we have a reduced capacity as we will need to put the work that is in our contract first.
Being able to walk into our practice like we used to do and seeking what we require. We all know things have changed but peoples needs are important, not blocking A&E with GP problems would also be a great achievement too.
It appears this patient would prefer it if the practice would provide a walk-in service whereby they could walk in to be seen immediately. It also appears this patient infers that the reason A&E is overwhelmed is because the GP surgeries don’t do what they are supposed to do. Indeed, it would be a great achievement if the practices could do this, but it is unachievable. All NHS services are overstretched and it’s not the fault of primary care (or other NHS services) that A&E departments are overwhelmed. Primary care is also at breaking point (if not past it).
And that concludes the feedback we have received this week. Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this survey. It is very much appreciated. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
