Our October Patient Satisfaction Survey Results

October 2024 Patient Satisfaction Survey Results:

Still trying to catch up on sharing this information with you all. It’s been quite busy over the last few months, but hopefully we can now make this a regular feature again.

So, here are the comments our patients left on the Patient Survey in October 2024.

“Good doctor, given good advice, gets things done in reasonable time“

“As there was an elderly couple discussing their needs at the reception window there was about a 10 minute wait to check in for my blood test and I technically arrived late. Fortunately I’m an infrequent visitor so don’t know if this is a one off, or regular issue.“

Occasionally someone will take a little longer at the reception desk and a queue will form. Our receptionists usually attempt to keep an eye out for a queue forming and if it takes a little longer than expected may just put the conversation on hold for a moment to enquire if anyone is waiting in the queue for a booked appointment. This way we can keep the impact of the longer conversation on those waiting in the queue and on the clinicians waiting for their next patient down to a minimum.

“Why is it that I can have blood take on my nurse appointment but after my doctors appointment I have to trail all the way to Barnsley on the bus just to have my blood taken for the Doctor.??
Surely an appointment with the nurse would be more sensible“

As the capacity for nursing appointments is low at the moment, we are unable to offer blood tests that don’t form part of an annual review to our patients. Patients will need to have their blood test at the Glassworks instead. If our capacity changes, we will review this but this is how it currently is.

“The reception team referred my enquiry to the on call GP I was offered an appointment the same day to see Dr Sam face to face.
Dr Sam is excellent and is very caring, professional and friendly”

“Dr Sam was extremely helpful, as always.“

“The doctor had not looked at my medical history. I told about my cancers but she dismissed it. She offered no medical advice other than exercise which I cannot do. Overall I wasn’t very pleased. Sent away doing what I’ve been doing elevating both feet“

We’re sorry to hear this patient didn’t have a good experience when visiting the surgery.

“Lucy the nurse I saw was first class“

“I would like to say thank you to the receptionist team but unfortunately I will. be making a complaint about my treatment and stigmatism recieved from the Dr seen on this occasion through the practice manager after my clinical team have spoken to him.“

As no further details were included with this feedback, we can’t look into what happened here. We’ve also left 3 other dissatisfied responses out to allow us to investigate what went wrong with those patients and how we can avoid that happening again.

“Recently moved to the grimethorpe/cudworth surgeries and can’t fault their service compared to other areas I’ve lived in ,very efficient,polite ,easy getting appointments and contact and so friendly and helpful staff ,thanks“

“Administration failed a successful appointment for the last two doctors appointments“

“Very satisfied with the service I received“

“Very nice surprise to be offered an appointment within a few mins
The doctor was efficient and dealt with our need in minutes”

“Have mobility issues due to an ongoing condition and despite leaving the house 20 minutes before my appointment which is normally only a 5 minute walk I was 6 minutes over my appointment time so was refused to be seen despite the appointment being for pain management after asking if I could be seen by another person I was told to go home and telephone to re-book totally unbelievable that anyone should be treated like this especially someone in pain“

We’re sorry to hear of this. Unfortunately it is impossible to see another doctor once a patient arrives too late for their appointment. If there were plenty of appointments left, this might be considered, but that isn’t something that is likely to happen. Occasionally a doctor may decide to see a patient even when they arrive late (with good reason), but that depends on what other work pressures they deal with at the time.

“Biggest problem is getting an appointment to see a doctor,and having to travel to Cudworth surgery for bloods or covid jabs etc.“

Blood tests are not done at the surgery, other than for annual reviews. We don’t offer Covid vaccinations at the surgery.

“The gp I saw was unfortunately not very empathetic and I found her quite stand offish and rude. This is the second time seeing this gp at cudworth and both times I felt she was rude.”

There were no further details included with this feedback and we can therefore not look into this further.

“The appointment I had was sent out by the surgery to see the practice nurse with regards to having a medication review“

“I was seen at Cudworth by Ellie,very professional,very knowledgable and very helpful.10/10“

“The gp I saw never looked at me when she called me in, didn’t introduce herself, didn’t explain how long to take meds for, and what she wrote in the consultation was not fully true, missed some information out which I believe should have been recorded, I don’t think that she was listening to me
Not a friendly person at all”

We again can’t look into this one any further as no further details were shared.

“The treatment and service very good“

“This was an appointment with the nurse for b12 injection I always have to wait and book the next appointment myself as the computers are not up to date“

The practice only adds appointments for a short time in the future to the clinical system. This is for a number of reasons. The longer in the future the appointment is booked for, the higher the chance the patient forgets. Staff also doesn’t book all their annual leave at the start of the year for the entire year and if we book appointments months in advance, we might need to cancel the appointments already booked because annual leave was taken. Currently  we only need to do so when someone is off sick or needs to take emergency leave.

“Louise was brilliant and understanding and helped me get an appointment with Helen the dietitian. Helen was absolutely fantastic, she helped me understand how to organise my meals“

For those who haven’t met Louise yet, she is our Health and Wellbeing Coach and works one day a week for the practice.

“Trying to get my 5 year old an appointment was ridiculous. First the clinician looking over the triage completely disregarded the fact I’d Said he was at school and gave me an appointment with a very limited frame. Once I contacted reception regarding this I was told they had after school appointments available, and that the clinician had also given me the wrong clinic to attend (stated cudworth, was actually grimethorpe)
After sending a message to the gp regarding this I was told the last minute appointment in grimethorpe still stood, despite the fact I couldn’t get my son from school and to that clinic in time. I was then told to contact iheart. For a medical reason that required stool samples, iheart cannot facilitate that or refer if necessary.
I was finally sent a link to book him an appointment for the following day. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to see your own gp in your own practice. Especially for children. The triage system is a nightmare and so inconsiderate“

The triage system helps patients who need to be seen at the practice to be seen at the practice. However, we can only offer those appointments we have available. Our patients can express their preference for a time, place or specific clinician, however it depends on the availability of appointments if we can offer an appointment taking those preferences into consideration. The benefit and also the drawback of the system is that you may be offered an appointment within an hour of your request on occasion.

“Wonderful experience amazing staff members just excellent quality and service thank you so much”

“Dr Sam is very good .really happy seeing her“

“Lucy the nurse was lovely and very reassuring”

“Getting an appointment with the doctor has improved from post covid thankfully.”

“After getting an appointment to see a dr after several attempts (no appointments available) advised to attend a n e ,and other time call iheart(no appointments again) iheart also had no appointments. I was worried and in pain and finally got to see a doctor on the 17th October this appointment gave me relief after speaking to the doctor I felt I was listened to and not rushed and got more follow ups and investigations and I came out feeling listened to.“

“The young woman who attended to me was very helpful, explained all so I understood, I was highly satisfied, no problems”

“Always needed an INR Test and was given appointment as needed”

“Very rare i visit gp tend to put it off if possible through my anxiety but the nurse was really kind and made me feel really at ease”

“The doctor I saw was fantastic she really listened to me even when I thought it was silly what I was saying. She made me feel so comfortable. Best doctor I’ve ever seen so far”

“Things seem to have changed now I don’t go to the doctors much regarding the old telephone system it worked brill this time thanks for the new upgrade“

“I don’t have any issues with getting appointments, I had issues with one of your receptionists!
I reported my issues and up to now I haven’t had anymore regarding my issues and complaint about the lady in question.
I have the up most respect for all members of the dr’s, nurses, management, the receptionists team and I deserve the same from your colleagues. I had some problems with a member of your staff and they have been addressed, I deserve to be respected as a patient just like I respect your members of staff! I appreciate all of your members of staff even when they are rude”

We hope none of our patients need to deal with rude behaviour from any of our team. However, what one person considers rude, another might not. I would hope that none of our team was ever purposefully rude.

“Lovely Dr Sam , first time I had met her, she listened and sorted my appointments out .”

“Can never get an appointment when I need one , this usually after waiting 30 mins + . Also having to travel to another surgery for minor attention eg. Bloods being taken.”

All GP appointments are assigned via the assessment of need system. A clinician assesses the details provided and decides which is the best person or service to help the patient with their problem. This means that some patients will find it easier to receive an appointment whereas others will find it more difficult. After all, if you need an appointment because you have a dental problem, the best place is the dentist and the clinician will signpost you there instead.

“The speed, treatment and referal to hospital was very quick,friendly and efficient. First class. If the people at the top stop interfering and let the people at the front line do their job, things work better.“

“Answering phone more rather than having to wait for an hour before you speak to someone.“

The problem isn’t that our staff don’t answer the phone, but that more calls are made to the practice than our staff can process within minutes. From our telephone system we can see that at 8 am there are usually around 20 people in the queue. With every call taking between 2 and 3 minutes to  process, this means it will take a while to get through them all.

“I was impressed with the speed I was seen, got appointment. I was referred to the hospital straight away with Dr Lannon and the receptionist got me an appointment within a week. I also had necessary bloods done there and then at the surgery. Excellent service !!!”

“Brilliant nurse, really polite and helpful“

“The nurse i saw yesterday was very caring, understanding and patient. She saw how anxious i was about calling the police about the boys setting off fireworks on my way to my appointment and showed reassurance along with caring well for the needs of my appointment.”

“Unfortunately I had to phone the surgery on 5 separate occasions to book a depo appt this was over 20 days and was promised that someone would phone back with an appt this never happened so repeatedly had to chase this. Asked if there was somewhere else I could go and was told no, do not want the this to be the case every 12 weeks”

We are yet to find an ideal solution to this problem. There are usually enough appointments within the nurses’ diary for depo injections, however, sometimes these are used for urgent matters if they remain available a few days before the appointment day. We would like to send patients a link to book their appointment themselves, but we can’t set it to a certain date when the appointment can be booked yet. With a new team member on board, we hopefully have some more availability now. (only temporary as she is a maternity locum for Ellie)

“The nurse who took the review was excellent. Lovely manner. Explained everything. Very professional”

“When sputum taken back to surgery ( at 3.30pm) as requested GP by 4pm, hubby was met by a very rude receptionist who told him ‘too late’ . When asked to check she finally appeared with the necessary bag! Said
‘It can go in here’. What a shame it hand to end on a sour note after a good experience !!!!”

Our samples cut-off time is 2 am as we don’t have any nurses after this time on most days and a nurse needs to process the sample. In Grimethorpe the last collection is around 3.30 pm, which also means that samples need to be there well before then too.

“I was extremely disappointed to have my appointment cancelled 90 minutes before the time. I had already waited a month and now have to wait another month. We lead busy lives and it takes lots of juggling things around to make an appointment. I now have to do that again.“

We’re sorry an appointment had to be cancelled that shortly before an appointment. That usually only happens when the clinician is off sick or gets called away on an emergency.

“As I understand this survey is for how I obtained an appointment not the care I was given by the doctor. Waiting over an hour on the phone to get through for the appointment was a ridiculous time”

The survey is to find out how your contacts with the practice were for you. You no longer need to  wait on the phone for that long as you can request a ring back instead.

“Amazing service and very friendly I am so thankful to have such a great doctors surgery.”

“I was prompted to make an appointment for a review of my medication, thought this was with my Dr, and I didn’t know that I was having a blood test with a nurse, I booked my appointment on line, did get reminded a few times about my upcoming appointment, but overall my appointment went well, excellent service”

“I needed a blood test and The Glass Work were full until the middle of November when I would be away. I had to ring for permission for one of the practice nurses to do it for me. I find this ridiculous.”

We have capacity problems within our nursing team currently and therefore only do blood tests that are a part of an annual review. We will review this if the capacity increases.

“Very good all went, pleased”

“Wasn’t expecting the telephone consultation as I had not been notified it was going to happen…. but! Although I personally was rushed because of outside events, the doctor have me the basic information I needed and took his time to go through things I needed to know. I would have preferred to know it was going to happen before it did, I could have made sure to have enough time.”

Sometimes, a GP will decide to call a patient to discuss a result rather than wait for an available appointment. They may be looking at a result and decide that it would save time for them, their staff and the patient if they simply picked up the phone and informed the patient immediately. I suspect that is what happened in this case.

“On this occasion I’d asked for a sick note due to my mother passing away. The receptionist asked me how long to ask for. I asked for 3 – 4 weeks as I’m not feeling great. When I went to collect my sick note up the Gp had wrote one for 2 weeks which now means I either go back to work ,which is for the NHS as a nurse or try my best to try and get through to speak to someone which took me nearly an hour and get an appointment again.“

If patients need a sick note, they don’t need to phone the surgery for this. Instead, they can put the request in via our online consultations, https://accurx.nhs.uk/patient-initiated/c85018. If the clinician assessing your request feels further information or an appointment is needed, they will ask for this. This way you can bypass the busy phone lines for a sick note. This is not suitable for urgent matters as it may take up to 3 working  days before you receive an outcome this way.

“Nursing staff are do helpful so are receptionist”

“I received an invite t make an appointment for my annual health check. The booking process was easy, plenty of reminders sent, the health care professional was lovely.”

“I wasn’t aware of the telephone consultation being booked in the first place so was shocked a little and didn’t have time to make sure I was available. I felt a little rushed and would have appreciated rebooting the discussion.”

“I was 10 minutes early for my appointment to ensure I was on time. The GP was running 20 minutes behind schedule for appointments which I wasn’t informed of at reception and not so much as an apology from the GP when I went into the consultant room at around 3:05pm. Poor service in this regard – an apology should have been given. If I was late to my appointment the GP would have refused to see me”

I offer my apologies on behalf of the GP. It may be the receptionist was not aware the GP was running late as it may have been the patient before you who needed the additional attention. This is  not always something that can be predicted (if it is, a longer appointment is offered). Urgent matters can crop up and make a GP late.

“The only issue and I know its the rule but I’d taken my poor daughter to seek medical advice at chemist and because of her age was told she would need the doctor so as I was there I called in only to be told I have to ring pointing at the phone. Just think sometimes it’s a little ridiculous when your physically there.
Opinion only.”

The reason we don’t accept appointment requests at the front desk is because the lack of confidentiality. Anyone who is in the waiting area can overhear what is being said. As we answer our phones away from reception, this is also the reason you don’t hear our phones ringing when you are in reception, others can’t overhear what is being said.

“I was given plenty of time with my doctor to explain my condition. My GP was really helpful in explaining potential treatment for my condition.”