(copied from the BMA website)

If you have lost your family doctor, you are not alone. General Practice is broken. Help us fix it.

You have probably noticed that something is wrong. Look at the difficulty you have in getting an appointment at your local surgery. When you do get through, it may not be an appointment with a GP at all. Have you lost your regular family doctor? You are not alone.

General Practice is collapsing. Every practice across England is struggling to keep its doors open.

We value our patients. We know that most patients value us too, especially when they need us regularly. You know we can deal with most of your health problems, keep you out of hospital, and have your best interests at heart. The problem is with the mismanagement of the NHS.

Your GP is an expert in general medical practice – trained over 10 years to deal with complex problems, spot serious symptoms, and decide when you need specialist help at the hospital.

But did you know that your practice receives just £107.57 per year for each patient, whatever their health needs. That’s less than the cost of an annual TV licence.

It’s just 30p a day for every patient registered with us – less than the cost of an apple.

We believe general practice deserves a bigger slice of NHS funding so we can train and hire more GPs, deliver the services you require and make it easier for you and your loved ones to get appointments to see your GP and practice team.

GPs want the same things that you do. We believe nobody should struggle to see their family doctor.

General Practice should be as it once was – a familiar family doctor, offering continuity of care in a surgery full of friendly familiar faces within a safe building where you knew you would get the care you needed.

How can you support your family doctor?

Talk to any election candidate who you come across

When candidates from the political parties come knocking on your door, ask them what they will do to save general practice. What will they do so you can see a GP in a modern local surgery?

Join the patient participation group at your local practice

Your local practice should have a patient participation group (PPG), which you could join to support the practice and influence the way they deliver local services.  Download our slide deck to display at your surgery (Password: GPsOnYourSide).

Ask your surgery receptionist for further information about the existing group or details on how you might start one up. These slides are available to consider showing at a PPG meeting.

The National Association for Patient Participation has useful information, too.

Download campaign materials to display and share

You can use our new GPs on your side animation to show on your waiting room screens. If you prefer working with an Mp4 file, please click here and use password 4VqYGv7BPaJR.

You can download and print our campaign posters and put it them in your window:

• Download poster 1 (blue)
• Download poster 2 (white)

Save our social graphics and share them on your social accounts or with family and friends via WhatsApp:

• Social graphic 1
• Social graphic 2
• Social graphic 4
• Social graphic 5

General Practice has been broken. Help us fix it.

GPs Are On Your Side

And what a week it’s been. Most of the week passed as normal, but Friday was a real nightmare that saw many GP practices affected by a clinical system outage. Many other areas were also affected globally, banks, shops, and airports to name a few. We hope everything will be back to normal again on Monday but understand access to the clinical system remains limited. EMIS prioritises access to consultations, medication, and the appointment book in the first instance. This means that documents (letters from and to consultants), searches and many other parts of the programme are currently unavailable. This will continue to have an impact on how we work. Despite all these challenges we are determined to do the best we can for our patients.

And now, it’s time to have a look at the comments left by our patients this week.

My appointment on this occasion was pre book. My appointment was with the Nurse she gives me the date for my next visit.

It seams there is not enough doctors now for the volume of patients so it is always difficult to see a doctor immediately. This triage is also very frustrating plus getting through to reception is a long and frustrating experience.

We are now in a ridiculous situation in the UK with plenty of available GPs. Still, the funding primary care has been given is ringfenced for the additional roles (physician associates, paramedics, pharmacists, nursing associates and other roles), and can’t be used for GP recruitment. The funding for staff has been removed from the GP practices and put in the PCN (primary care network, which in Barnsley contains all the GP practices) instead. This means GP practices no longer have any funding to recruit further GPs, even if they would have the space to house them (which is also rather limited).

Regarding the phone situation, we hope this will soon be much improved. Our new phones will be installed on 12 August and the new system should be live from 13 August. We can’t wait and hope this will bring much-needed improved access to the practice.

The nurse I saw for my annual review was very professional, friendly, informative and caring.

Thanks for the service that my
Brother received

Very Happy with all staff your doing a great job

I had an appointment with Jackie, she is very kind and covered everything for me. Definitely felt listened to and understood.

And now it’s time to have a look at the results from the Friends and Family Test this week:

Although most patients will agree we need more appointments so that everyone who wants to see a doctor, can see a doctor, this is not what research shows is the best thing. Interestingly, patient satisfaction appears improved if the available appointments are of a longer duration so that their problem can be addressed within one appointment rather than over several appointments. Some practices only offer 10 appointments per GP daily, but those appointments are 20-30 minutes long. The patient satisfaction surveys they did actually showed greater satisfaction than before they made this change.

Research also shows that GPs should aim to see a maximum of 25 patients daily to be most effective in their care. We try to keep to this guidance to ensure the best possible care for our patients. The only way we could increase the number of available appointments would be by increasing the number of GPs. This is difficult for several reasons. We don’t have the space to house the extra GPs. We don’t have the funding to recruit those extra GPs. Most available GPs prefer to work locum shifts which provides them with flexibility and an increased salary compared to a partner or a salaried GP.

This concludes our Patient Satisfaction Survey and Friends and Family Test results for this week. Apologies for posting this a day later than usual but I could do with a rest day after the trouble that hit us on Friday. Thank you once again to all the patients who take the time to provide their feedback. It is much appreciated.

We have reported this problem to our clinical system provider and understand this is a nationwide problem. We have been trying to get onto our clinical system since before 6 am and have been unsuccessful, receiving a message that it can’t connect to the EMIS Application server.

What does this mean?

1. We don’t know which appointments have been booked, other than those that received a text reminder (we can see this from outside of our clinical system)
2. Those that have received a text reminder of their appointment, we only know the time they are booked for (not who with, what for, or where).
3. We have no details of the patients booked into our early morning session today, but when we last checked last night, there were two patients booked in for a telephone consultation – we don’t know who they are, what their number is, so won’t be able to contact them.
4. We have no access to the clinical system, nor the appointment book within it, which means we can’t book any appointments currently.
5. We can’t access patients’ notes and cannot add or check data. Our phone system will therefore be of little use either (nor will our online consultations as that is also linked to our clinical system)

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and advise our patients to contact NHS 111 online, or phone NHS 111 if they have a medical need during this national outage. We hope this issue is resolved as soon as possible and we will update you once we know it has been resolved.

Updates from our clinical system provider:

16.00 Update:

Work is ongoing to restore service to EMIS Web following the third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally.  

We are successfully bringing some services back online, however some functionality may be initially limited. 

We expect this disruption to continue through the evening and into the weekend, and we recommend users prepare for this. We are exploring ways to safely accelerate this work to restore service to all affected services as soon as possible. 

Wales:

EMIS Web is now available for practices in Wales. We will continue to closely monitor the system and take any action if required. 

We will continue to provide updates as our work progresses. In the meantime, you can find more information on EMIS Web Business Continuity on EMIS Now here.  

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we have worked through this issue and would like to reassure you that our teams will continue to work throughout the evening and over the weekend to fully restore service. 

Next Update: 10am, Saturday 20th July 

14:30 Update:

We are continuing our work to restore service to EMIS Web following the the third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally. 

This is a complex process but we are seeing improvements and some services are back online. We are continuing to look at ways to accelerate this work to restore service to all affected products as soon as possible.

We will continue to provide updates as this work progresses. In the meantime, you can find more information on EMIS Web Business Continuity on EMIS Now here.

Next Update: 16:30

12.30 Update:

We are continuing our work to restore service following the third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally. We are seeing improvements with some users able to access some systems and we expect this to continually improve throughout the day.

We will continue to provide updates as this work progresses. In the meantime, you can find more information on EMIS Web Business Continuity on EMIS Now here.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this is causing.

Next Update: 14:30

10:30 Update:

We are aware that some users are still unable to access EMIS Web and other services due to a third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally.

We are continuing our work to restore service and we are seeing improvements with some users able to access some systems. We expect this to improve throughout the day.

We will continue to provide updates as this work progresses. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this is causing.

08:25 Update:

We are aware that users are still unable to access EMIS Web.

We are affected by a third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally, and we are working with the relevant parties to restore service as soon as possible.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this is causing. We will continue to keep you updated as this work progresses.

Next Update: 10:30am

The surgery will be closed today Wed 17 July from 12 pm for Staff Training.

For medical help during this time:

Life-threatening? 999

Urgent? Contact NHS111

Non-urgent? Contact us from 8 am on Thursday, or online via https://florey.accurx.com/p/C85018

The surgery will be closed tomorrow Wed 17 July from 12 pm for Staff Training.

For medical help during this time:

Life-threatening? 999

Urgent? Contact NHS111

Non-urgent? Contact us from 8 am on Thursday, or online via https://florey.accurx.com/p/C85018

It’s Saturday again. We suspect there may be quite a few comments be waiting for us this week as we missed last week because the practice manager was on annual leave.

Before we get started, we have some exciting news to share.

We have received a date for our new telephone system to go live!

The new provider will be installing the new system on Monday 12 August, and the new system will go live on 13 August. We are now very busy in the preparation for the installation of the system and which bells and whistles it should have. If you want to have your say in how the new system is set up, you’ll need to be quick. Please share any feedback on our current system in our 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/

And now it’s time to look at the comments left over the last 2 weeks.

As always an absolute pleasure to speak with Dr Maters. He is so friendly but professional and I came away reassured that my medical needs will be met

The appointment that is covered in this survey was very good but I have some additional feedback. I would like to be able to have a blood test at my GP surgery rather than having to go into Barnsley

We are aware that many of our patients would like to be able to have their blood tests (requested by the surgery or by the hospital) done at the surgery. Our patients may not be aware of the following issues relating to blood tests at the surgery:

1. We currently have reduced capacity for nursing team appointments because of staff sickness and one of our nursing associates being away at university to do the top-up to become a registered nurse. This means we have to look at the services we provide and which services are most important for our patient’s health and well-being to be put first.
2. Blood tests are not part of the GP contract, this means the practice receives no payment for these. This means they actually pay for patients to have blood tests out of their own pocket as the staff still needs to be paid for the time they spend doing blood tests.
3. Hospital blood tests are also not part of the GP contract, again this means the practice would pay for the nurse’s time while not being reimbursed for the time and effort.

Once our capacity returns to normal, we will reassess the situation, but we may still feel unable to offer routine blood tests at the surgery at that stage.

I saw Jackie yesterday after requesting to see her from a blood test appt last week. Jackie was so helpful in her advise and very informative on what I was changing to. Menopause is tough and she has so much knowledge and let me make my own choices. I will be hoping to see her for future appointments

Long periods between handing in repeat prescriptions and getting the medication. This worries me as shortly I will be putting in a repeat prescription for all items. This due to a holiday where I will be overseas for 4 weeks and will be requiring a repeat form to show that I need the medication.

We sympathise with the patient on this issue. Unfortunately, the delay is not with the surgery. As always, our time to process a request is 48 hours during working days. For patient safety purposes, we will date a prescription for when it falls due. We understand the pharmacies have recently been experiencing some difficulties with receiving stock of certain medications and some with staff shortages. Any delays that take place at the pharmacy is beyond our control. The processing time we quote does not include the processing time from the pharmacy. If you go on holiday, you can request your medication early if you go abroad. In that case, please place a note with your request with the dates you will be away for. Only then we can take this into account. If you go on holiday in the UK, we can send the request to a pharmacy near where you are on holiday instead as a one-off.

Absolutely can not fault Dr Mba. Very thorough and understanding. Me and my daughter felt at ease and knew we would be looked after and listened to.

Excellent service provided and very well pleased could not have been any better.

Good afternoon,
I would like to thank to Mandy and Dr Matters for being very professional and helping me out.
Thank you

I telephoned the surgery with an issue about my daughter having a persistent cough. (after a 28 minute wait on the phone) I was offered no appointment at all & advised to call iheart in a text a few hours later (I did say that the appointment didnt need to be that day, but asked if someone could listen to her chest at some point) I got her an appointment with iheart, but they recommended me calling my GP to have an asthma test to rule out asthma as a cause. (they couldnt do the test?!?!) Iheart informed me that the notes from this appointment will be made available to my GP practice. I then called back & explained all this and I was then offered an appointment. Nobody informed me on the phone that my daughter wasn’t actually booked in with an Asthma nurse, so when we attended this appointment & explained again the problem, the lady’s response was ‘Ah you need an asthma nurse for that’ this was a little awkward & embarrassing, surely reception could have explained this to me on the phone? This particular medical professional prescribed an inhaler to try and I was then pointed back in the direction of reception to book with the Asthma nurse. This time (and totally perplexed by this point) the receptionist explained that they cannot refer my daughter to a Asthma nurse off the back of my request or even iheart for that matter (even though you as the practice sent us to iheart because you wouldn’t give us ANY appointment). We now await the appointment with the Asthma nurse in a few weeks, But I feel the whole process could have been made more clear to someone who doesn’t book/need appointments very often. From the outside it gives the perception of being sent to iheart so the practice doesn’t have to deal with it, which is odd when the general public are advised to get a persistent cough checked with your GP. I am happy that both iheart and the appointment we had resulting in her chest being checked, which sounded ‘clear’ but could the communication be better, or at least listen to me when I say I need an non-emergency appointment for my daughter?

We believe this patient makes a valid point. There appears to have been some miscommunication in this case. Not all our patients are aware of how our Assessment of Need system works, we have after all around 7500 patients. Here is how the system works and I will also address the questions this patient asked.

1. A patient contacts the surgery for a GP appointment (this can be by phone or by online consultations).
2. Online consultations are only suitable for non-urgent problems.
3. The receptionist takes the details from the patient and may ask some questions to clarify this further and enters these details on the patient’s notes. The receptionist does not have the authority to book a GP appointment at the patient’s request. She can however signpost to certain other services already if this appears appropriate from the details given.
4. The receptionist adds the patient’s name to the assessment of need list.
5. A clinician (GP, advanced nurse practitioner or physician associate) reads the details on the patient’s notes and assesses the need for an appointment based on this. This could also include signposting to a more appropriate service if needed.
6. The clinician sends a message to the patient (either personally or via reception) with the outcome of the assessment, this is usually as a text message. If an appointment is offered this will include a time, date and a place.
7. If the clinician feels it is appropriate to refer to iHeart (eg it requires a same-day appointment but none remain at the surgery), the patient will receive this message.
8. Our receptionists cannot book with an asthma nurse directly if the patient has not yet been diagnosed with asthma. In that case, a clinician will decide that an assessment by a clinician is needed before the asthma nurse performs further tests and sees the patient.
9. In the above case, it would have been helpful if this information had also been given to the patient. Our standard text message for an appointment booked after the assessment of need does now include a prompt to enter a reason for the appointment. Hopefully this will ensure the patient knows what the appointment booked is for.

It would be nice to see a GP occasionally,although the practice nurses are excellent.luckily I’m not an ill person.its just reviews and blood tests as per the rules.

Digital logging in rather than waiting at reception would be good as other patients are queuing and listening to conversations

Something to consider again, although previously the systems for this too often crashed.

The GP who saw my son and I yesterday was wonderful. She was approachable, really listened to what I had to say and was great with my son. The staff on the phones and on the reception were also lovely and very efficient.

All my needs were met very well. Received a text offering double appointment as I had two concerns. Doctor very pleasant and listened. Even the phone wasn’t too much of a problem this time as previously waited in queue and then cut off when it was my turn so good result

Excellent advise from doctor Ali talked to me about what my appointment was about, reassured me about my medication and booked follow up blood tests

Pleased with everything, Thank you

Fantastic service I received

Even thought I was dubious about seeing a Doctor I didn’t know , I was highly delighted with Dr Magadaza. He was very helpful and very easy to talk to.

I cannot believe that I seem to passed from pillar to post between the hospital and Doctors with no clear direction, the outcome of the visit to go and buy some Imodium I find totally inadequate and unhelpful – I feel let down by the service provided.

We can’t comment on how appropriate the advice given was without checking the notes. However, if both the hospital and the GP gave the same advice, this is likely appropriate advice. As always, if symptoms don’t improve after the initial advice or treatment, it may be needed to request another review.

You cant get to see a doctor now and as for precriptions thats a no no

We have no reference for this comment. Patients who need to see a doctor are more likely to see a doctor with the assessment of need system. However, patients who want (but do not necessarily need) to see a doctor may have more difficulty to see a doctor. NHS England has put guidance in place regarding certain medications and receiving NHS prescriptions for those. Most medications that are available over the counter can no longer be prescribed by a GP. We wonder if this is what this patient meant.

I understand things change but Dr’s practice should always be vigilant and it is very difficult now to make an appointment to see a doctor too much red tape

I went to Cudworth surgery for blood test for medication review. The nurse was very good, helped with other questions I had.

Good friendly service

I waited in call queue for around 40 minutes, which I fully expected on a Monday morning. Receptionist explained triage process and I received a text within 10 minutes giving me a face to face appointment that morning. Saw Dr Ali who listened and offered advice. Agreed action and follow up plan if necessary. Very happy, smooth and efficient process.

I spoke to the doctor and he kept saying well you can go private for your problem.
I was annoyed at this as I wanted help which I don’t think I received

We don’t know what the ins and outs of this situation are and can’t comment on this. It may have been that they wished to be seen by the service they were referred to sooner. Unfortunately, that is beyond our power and relies on the capacity of the service.

Nurse Lucy (I think!) was so lovely and very knowledgeable during my cervical smear appointment, informing me of everything she was doing and also why she was doing it. Exactly what a nurse should be like, well done and thank you!

That concludes the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey in the last 2 weeks. Now all we have left to share are the results of the Friends and Family Test:

We think this patient is unaware that we don’t ask patients to phone us at 8 am. In fact, we prefer if they wouldn’t phone at 8 am. However, patients will phone as soon as the surgery opens (sometimes even before we open!) hoping they will have the best chance of receiving an appointment. The GP appointments are however allocated on a needs basis rather than a first come-first serve basis. But we can only allocate appointments as long as they remain available.

We are sorry to hear this patient is so unhappy with us. They are correct in mentioning we don’t accept appointment requests at the reception desk. This is because we wish to safeguard the patient’s confidentiality and anyone in the waiting area could overhear if we allowed this. Instead, patients will need to either phone us or use our online consultations (this is only appropriate for non-urgent problems!). We will not tell a patient we don’t have any appointments available and to try again the next day and haven’t done that for over a year. Instead, patients will go onto the assessment of need list and a clinician will decide the best course of action for that patient. We cannot make it any easier for a patient to see a doctor as there is always far more demand for appointments than there are appointments available. Through the assessment of need process we can attempt to allocate the available appointments to the patients who are most in need of the appointments.

And it’s always nice to finish on a high note. Thank you very much to all the patients who have shared their feedback with us. We really appreciate the time you take to do so.

We have received a date for our new system to go live. It is finally getting closer. This also means this will be your last chance to have a say about our current system and about the features you would like to see in the new system. You can find the surveys here:

We have a date!

We already reported we were preparing for a new telephone system which would hopefully improve the experience for our patients and staff alike.

We have now received a date for the new system to go live!

The last preparations will take place on Monday 12 August and the system should be active from Tuesday 13 August.

We are really excited.

If you wish to have a say in the features the new system has, please fill in the surveys as a matter of urgency. Only then can we take your views into account.

You can scan the QR code, or you can find the surveys here:

So, what is the date?

We have been informed the last preparations will take place on Monday 12 August and the new system should be live by Tuesday 13 August. We are very excited about this and hope this will improve the experience for our patients and the team as much as we hope it will.

So, have your say now if you haven’t already. We can only take your views into account if you share them with us!

It’s Saturday and a little later than usual, but let’s have a look at what comments our patients have left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey this week.

The nurse who did my bloods and yearly checkup was really friendly and put me at ease and she was very efficient and explained everything to me in layman’s terms to ensure I understood what blood pressure targets etc I should be aiming for
It’s a great practice

Very satisfied nothing to add

My appointment was with Louise she is very informative & positive

For those of you who haven’t met her yet, Louise is our Health and Wellbeing Coach. She can help with things like weight loss, help with blood pressure and education relating to blood pressure, prediabetes and diabetes, and several other things. If you think you might benefit from seeing her, please enquire about this at reception.

Got a quick appointment due to it being Locums only, I felt as though the Dr didn’t listen to what I was telling her, therefore it was a wasted appointment, I know my own body and I know when things aren’t quite right.

Unfortunately this is something we can’t look into further as the person did only leave the comment and no contact details. We are sorry to hear the patient was dissatisfied.

Appointment sorted out very quickly.
I saw the GP that day.
He was very kind & compassionate. Advice & support given as required
I was very happy with the overall service

Was a yearly health check. The medical service itself was excellent. Not a fan of having to phone at 8am in the morning so walked up to the clinic to book a time. Preferred the system where you could book appointments. It made it a lot easier to see the GP.

The Assessment of Need system we currently use (as per NHS England guidance) has benefits and drawbacks. Patients who WANT to see a doctor are now at a disadvantage as they can’t book an appointment any longer. However, patients who NEED to see a doctor have a greater chance of seeing the right person at the right time and the right place. Not everyone who wants an appointment needs one. Some problems are dealt with better or just as well by another service. For instance, GPs can’t treat dental problems but we still used to get patients to see a GP for a dental problem in the past.

I was very happy with DR Sam

If I ring the doctor it is not a trivial matter I consider very carefully before contacting a Doctor as I realise they are under pressure these days.

I felt that the treatment I received was good and I was seen the same day I rang thank you

Hi, Both my wife and myself have been very satisfied with everyone that we have met or spoken to, many thanks.
Best regards,
.

I was very happy with reception team, excellent service given.
I wasn’t happy at all with GP, being treated like a text book rather than an individual, frowned upon when treatment requested, and very limited treatment offered. I will request to see a different GP in future

Extremely long wait on the telephone just to get through to reception which I find odd as I never hear the telephone ringing when down there in person. The only thing I can think of that there is one specific person answering the incoming calls? If it is just one person I would suggest that at certain times of day it would be better if more than one person is dealing with the calls.

We are aware of the problem with our telephone lines and will soon have a new, and we hope and expect, better telephone system in place. We expect this within the next few weeks although we haven’t received a go-live date for this yet. This patient is correct, you won’t hear the phones ringing in reception normally. This is because we have moved our incoming calls to a room away from reception to ensure confidentiality is maintained. Anyone in the waiting area can otherwise overhear what is being said. That is also the reason we don’t accept appointment requests at the reception desk, we want to maintain the patient’s confidentiality. The patient is also correct in the assumption we only have one receptionist answering the calls at either site. (so 2 in total). This is because of issues with space and the availability of staff at certain times. Unfortunately, we have struggled with sickness in our team, which has made it necessary to sometimes answer both phones in one site because of a lack of staff members. The new phone system should make life better and easier to use and we hope it will bring what we want for both our patients and the practice.

Just sort the calls on hold, waiting time

As mentioned above, we are working on it. We expect the new phone system to arrive in the near future.

And that concludes the comments left this week. We hope everyone will have a lovely and relaxing weekend.

We had a lovely meeting in May and another one yesterday. If you are interested in joining us, please get in touch as we would be happy to have you on board. Our next meeting is on 8 August.

Here are the approved minutes from our May meeting.

It’s the weekend, which means time to do the things we don’t get a chance for during the week. Other than the housework, that includes the results of the Patient Satisfaction Survey. So, let’s have a look at the comments we received this week.

All went well and I was very happy with the service I received

Takes too long before you speak to someone on the telephone

Good news! We had a visit from BT Openreach on Wednesday in Grimethorpe and are expecting them coming Monday in Cudworth. This is the next phase for our new phone system. We may have the new system in place within weeks and hope it will be a vast improvement on the current system. This is the first telephone system the practice has had a say in. The current system is commissioned by the ICB and was chosen by the CCG as it was a few years ago. We are looking forward to the new system and hope it will bring the improvements we are after for our patients and the practice alike.

Excellent as usual !

The nurse was really nice and friendly and explained what needed to be done but getting the appointment was really difficult i had an appointment booked for the 13th of may that was cancelled by the practice when phoned the 20th june was earliest i could get seen then i phoned to make appointment for my b12 injection and was told would be middly of july if nurse couldnt do it when i went on the 20th june

We have had some significant problems with appointments for our nursing team over the last few months. Unfortunately, one of the members of the team is on sick leave, while other members have needed to take time off sick, too. This has led to reduced availability and a need to cancel and reschedule appointments. We have recruited an additional member temporarily and another team member does occasional extra sessions to try and make up for the absences. We hope all members of the team will soon rejoin us fit and well.

I found grimethorpe surgery really poor, I needed medical advice and to be seen there and then due to suffering all my life with infected tonsils. I was told to ring 111 and heart for them to not do anything to then tell me to ring my gp up. I eventually got an appointment, I then waited 35 minutes for my appointment and kept getting told I was next one in after asking twice and waiting 35 minutes I got seen. I wasn’t satisfied with the experience at all.

We are sorry to hear this patient was dissatisfied with our service. However, we can only give what we have. If there is no availability, we need to signpost to other services. Unfortunately, appointments do occasionally overrun. The problem the patient presents with may be too complex to deal with within the normal appointment time and this may only become clear during the appointment. Or a patient may be in mental distress and need more time than envisaged. Sometimes an emergency crops up that causes a delay to the appointments. This is not something the clinicians have any control over. They would also prefer to run to time, but this isn’t always possible. We aim to keep our patients updated if the clinician they are booked with is running behind.

My request to see the GP was prioritised

All GP appointments at the surgery go through an Assessment of Need system. A clinician (GP, Advanced Nurse Practitioner or Physician Associate) assesses each request and advises the best course of action. Whether this is an appointment with a GP today, tomorrow, or next week, an appointment with a nurse, an appointment with a physiotherapist, signposting to another service like Pharmacy First, the Community Pharmacy Consultation Scheme, an optician, an urgent care centre. A&E, NHS 111, or any other service. They seek the best solution for that patient within the options we have available. If we have no availability for appointments, they will signpost to other services. Sometimes another service is also the better and quicker solution for the patient. You can help to receive the best solution by sharing the information with the receptionist during your phone call. We don’t allow patients to request appointments at the front desk as anyone in the waiting area can overhear what is said and confidentiality is not maintained. This is why we only accept this over the phone.

All in all happy with appointment and information we received from the nurse.

Doctor didn’t seem to check my concern as much as I would have liked and I felt brushed off and made to feel like I’d wasted their time. Since the appointment multiple people have told me to get the concern checked again as it very much does look like the thing I am concerned about

We’re sorry to hear this. An appointment is only a moment in time. When you see the GP, the symptoms may not be as serious as they later become, or they may appear to point in a different direction. Most of the things a GP sees are simple and often innocent conditions that will resolve on its own accord. However, there may be more serious conditions that mimic an innocent condition. This is why GPs will usually tell you ‘if your symptoms don’t improve, or if your symptoms worsens, please seek medical attention again.’ Please do so if that happens to you. Things can change, sometimes within hours. If your condition worsens, or if you remain concerned after initially having been reassured, please seek medical attention again. During my training, I listened to a child’s chest in the morning: absolutely clear. I listened again in the afternoon and it was full of infection. Same child, same doctor, a few hours difference. Please don’t ignore your spidey sense that something isn’t right. Have it checked again. It may be nothing and then you’ll be reassured. Or the condition may have changed and you have prevented it from getting much worse.

That completes the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey this week. Now it’s time to look at the results from the Friends and Family Test:

Thank you to all the patients who took the time to fill our Surveys in again. It is much appreciated. We have learned that most patients are happy with our service but there are improvements possible.
The telephone system needs improving and we are getting closer to a new system being installed.
There is disruption with our nursing team appointments through sickness absences and we are trying to keep the impact on our patients as little as possible. We hope our team members will soon return to us fit and healthy after making a full recovery.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!