It’s the weekend again, which means a look at the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey and Friends and Family Test. The end of the week has been rather challenging with a failing phone system in Cudworth. When we reported it to our phone providers, we discovered that the new provider for a neighbouring practice had mistakenly transferred all the phone lines in the building to their system. This included our phone lines despite this provider not being our provider. We are still waiting for our new provider to install our new system. Most of the practice manager’s time yesterday was taken up by chasing up what was happening with our Cudworth phone lines and trying to get them in working order again. We must admit this was with extremely limited effect. Although the phone lines mistakenly transferred have been transferred back, our current provider is still waiting for them to be activated again. And this won’t be before Monday! We apologise for the inconvenience this issue has caused us and we must admit we are not impressed with the new provider our neighbour has chosen. We hope our new provider will prove to do better.
Now, let’s first have a look at the results of the 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? | Extremely likely |
|---|---|
| Can you tell us why you gave that response? | Polite, friendly staff, clinicians. Nice environment and building. Feels clinical and organised |
| What are we doing particularly well? | Really helpful, understanding and professional |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Nil |
| How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment? | Extremely Unlikely |
|---|---|
| Can you tell us why you gave that response? | Can never get in to see a doctor |
| Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months? | Defo not it has got worse |
| What do you feel we can improve on and how? | Everythink go back to having work in clinic get rid of all appointments |
This second patient appears unhappy with the service we provide. Although they make a suggestion on how we could improve, it is not completely clear how they believe we could improve. We’re not sure what is meant by ‘get rid of all appointments’. Unless, of course, the patient means we should become a walk-in service where the patient walks in any time they feel they need to see a GP and gets seen immediately. Unfortunately, that is not a possibility. We are sorry to hear this patient feels they can never get an appointment with a doctor. GP appointments are given following an assessment of need by a clinician. During this assessment, they decide what the best solution for that patient’s problem is. When this is a GP appointment at the surgery, one will be arranged where capacity allows. When a same-day GP appointment is needed and none remain, the patient will be signposted to iHeart. iHeart provides the extra capacity that is needed within primary care.
And now it’s time to look at the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey:
I need an appointment for INR test but will need to ring later as this was too late to do immediately. Things need to be extended for patients would need regular INR test ie later than 70days
We put nursing team appointments on the system around a month in advance. Putting these appointments on for longer than this period causes several problems. If a nurse puts her holiday requests in only a month in advance (which is her right), any already booked appointments will need rearranging again. From experience, we also know that all appointments will already be fully booked for weeks in advance if we add the appointments to the system a long time before, something we would like to avoid. The risk of forgetting you have a booked appointment is also increased, leading to missed appointments and wasted appointments. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes our patients, but we will not change our system at this time.
Ellie the nurse I saw for my B12 is an absolute credit to you she is wondering and deserves credit
Lucy the nurse us a credit to the practice !
I phoned for appointment and received face to face meeting the same day, very pleased with the service I received.
Thank you.
Nothing to change 10/10. ALL staff top class as usual.
With a previously GP diagnosed condition that may or is likely to require further referrals, why do patients need to tie up already limited GP appointments and valuable time, Just to access a further referral indicated and identified at appointment number 1. Surely a GP can run from previous history and notes. Or alternatively an over the phone appointment. GPs are valued and busy people, their time is precious…..
You would think so, wouldn’t you? However, referrals are only accepted with up-to-date information and they demand that the GP has recently reviewed the patient again before they get accepted. If a GP would refer a patient at their request for a previously diagnosed condition but had not seen the patient for a number of months (or longer), the referral would be rejected. This would be a waste of time for the patient (waiting even longer) and for the GP who took the time to do that referral. A telephone appointment would still be an appointment, so it would not significantly change matters either.
My appointment with the cardio nurse Mandy was very good she was very understanding and informative she was going to contact cardiology at Rotherham hospital and today she informed me she had a response about a face to face appointment with the consultant so pleased about this a big thanks
Went in for my usual b12 injection at Cudworth because I grimethorpe was fully booked. Really good to see the nurse who listened to what I felt like and did a blood test beforehand so the doctor could check I was on the right frequency between injections.
As always, I know how hard a job you all have trying to balance government cuts, staff shortages and care for your patients. It’s hard to get appointments or talk through stuff with a medical person, but when you do, you go out of your way to listen and make sure actions are taken. Thank you.
All went well friendly staff and good and professional advice. We’ll done
Thought the phone call from doctor was very thoughtful, to save me going to surgery, my full results had not come back thank you
We are very grateful to all the patients who take time to fill in the survey and help us improve our services. As you can see, we take time to read and share your comments and to respond to the feedback you provide. It helps us gain an insight into how our patients view the practice and the services we provide. This provides us with a basis to work from when we need to change anything within the practice.
If you would like to have more of a say in what happens within the practice and any changes we make, why not apply to join our Patient Participation Group. You can read more about what it is and what is expected of you here: https://www.grimethorpesurgery.nhs.uk/information/patient-information-and-support/our-patient-participation-group/
Not had an appointment, but you would still like to share your opinion about our services? You can find our Patient Satisfaction Survey and Friends and Family Test here: https://www.grimethorpesurgery.nhs.uk/information/patient-information-and-support/we-welcome-patients-feedback-on-their-experiences-with-the-practice/
Would you like to share your thoughts about our current and future phone system? You can find our telephone surveys here: https://www.grimethorpesurgery.nhs.uk/information/patient-information-and-support/we-welcome-patients-feedback-on-their-experiences-with-the-practice/telephone-system-telephone-access-survey/
Once again, thank you very much for taking the time to complete our surveys. We really do appreciate it.
