Dear Patients

DEAR PATIENTS

From the 2nd April 2018 all our reception team will ask you a range of questions to ensure you are seen by the correct clinician within an appropriate timespan

We would like to help you understand how our appointment system works at Park Medical Practice so that you can be seen most effectively.

Our aim is to see any patient who has a health problem within a timespan that is appropriate for that problem. As a practice we undertake more than 15,000 face to face consultations in a year for our population of 6,000 registered patients. Some of these conditions are for new illnesses whilst others are for continuing problems, with 90%of all medical care being provided in general practice. It can therefore be massive challenge to match the needs of individual patients to the supply of appointments.

Therefore, we are trialling a new appointment system to improve our patient experience

APPOINTMENT TYPES

We have several different types of appointments aimed at meeting the needs of the majority of our patients.ALL PATIENTS WILL NEED TO PROVIDE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SYMPTOMS OR A PROBLEM IN ORDER TO FACILITATE BOOKING

TELEPHONE APPOINTMENTS:

A telephone appointment can often save time for both patients and doctors and we are developing telephone consultations as a means of improving efficiency.These are limited in number and can be pre-bookable.

SAME DAY APPOINTMENTS:

Same day appointments are intended for acute problems that need to be dealt with as priority. Please phone early morning between 8am – 9.30amif you genuinely require one of these appointments,It will be necessary to provide a brief description of symptoms or problem to our reception team in order to facilitate the bookingprocess.

SOON APPOINTMENTS:

We aim to offer an appointment within4/5working days for patients with problems/symptoms thatdo not need an acute appointment on the same day. Appointments of this nature will become available on a rolling basis. You can phone to book these after between 11.00am and 1.00 pm.

You will be offered an appointment with the first available clinician; this MAY NOTnecessarily the one of your choice.

ROUTINEREVIEW APPOINTMENTS:

These can be booked up to six weeks in advance and are best suited for follow-ups or to help you plan for appointments when you have received a review message for continuing health problems.

NURSE APPOINTMENTS:

Our nurses can deal with a range of common problems including monitoring long term health conditions. We have a minor illness clinicswhereour ANP (Advanced nurse Practitioner) can prescribe a range of medications.

HOME VISITS:

All home visits are restricted to patients who are genuinely housebound. All home visited are triaged by a clinician prior to a visit taking place. Home visits requests need to be made before 11.30 am

MAKING APPOINTMENTS

There are several different ways of making an appointment including the following:

In Person:We are happy to make appointments via our reception team. However, please be aware this can at times be a very busy area where we aim to uphold confidentiality at all times.

By Phone:This is still the most popular way of making an appointment. However, our phone lines can beextremely busy and temperamental depending on the number of patients phoning at any given time. We are aware of how frustrating this can be for our patients.

Please be patientand we will answer your call. Your experience will also be improved by the installation of a new phone system.

Online:Soon and Routine appointments can also be made online. We want to increase the number of patients registering online and using this service, they have full advantage of booking web exclusive appointments even when the surgery is closed.

TOP TIPS TO HELP US & YOU TO GET THE MOST OUT OF OUR APPOINTMENT SYSTEM

IS IT ESSENTIAL THAT I AM SEEN ON THE SAME DAY?

Please don’t request a same day appointment unless you consider your problem to be medically urgent. If you are not sure, then our reception team will support and guide you. Inappropriate requests and use of same day appointments prevents genuinely urgent problems been seen.

THINK AHEAD

ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS: Plan your routine appointments in advance where possible. If you invited for a review please don’t call the practice at our busiest time, (Between 8.00am and 10.00am) our reception team can book these appointments for you between 11.00am and 1.00pm and these types of appointments are throughout the day.

TEST RESULTS:Please leave approximately 4 days for your results to return to practice and to enable a clinical review. Calls regarding test results will only be accepted after 2:00 pm

FIT TO WORK CERTIFICATES & PRESCRIPTIONS:

Please allow at least 48 hours for processing. Over the phone requests for prescriptions cannot be taken by our reception team.

PLEASE NOTE: Queries relating to prescriptions and fit to work notes will only be accepted after 2:00pm.

Werespectfully ask that you don’t telephone to ask if your prescription is ready. We aim to have them completed and processed within48 hours

TURN UP OR CANCEL

On a daily basis we struggle to accommodate patients’ requests for appointments. Please do not miss an appointment that you have booked. This is wasted time that could be used for another patient. If you can’t make an appointment or need to reschedule please let us know immediately. The average GP appointment costs approx. £27.00 we lost 34 appointments in February 2018 due to patients simply not turning up

CAN ANYONE ELSE HELP?

Beforeyou make an appointment please think about whether there are any other services that might be more appropriate.For example, remember that pharmacists are trained to give advice about minor health problems and answer any questions your medicines and treatment. The NHS 111system is also available to guide you to appropriate sources of advice.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Understandably many people are reluctant to tell a receptionist about the reason that they want to see a Doctor. However, our reception staffwill be able to guide you in the right direction if you provide them with a brief description of symptoms/ problem. We have asked our reception team to do thisas this has been proven to improve our consultation time and supports clinicians when viewing your clinical information during consultation. Our staff will treat your information with the strictest confidentiality.

GO ONLINE

You can book routine appointments with a Doctor online, as well as ordering repeat prescriptions. Online services are available 24 hours a day so you can use this service at your convenience. Using the online services also reduce demand on reception staff during the day so everybody gains. You will need to register to be able to do this and reception staff will be happy to give you more information.

TELEPHONE CONSULTATION

Our reception team may suggest a telephone consultation.

In order for this to work please ensure we have your correct telephone number. We cannot guarantee the time of the call but usually this would take place after morning surgery.

MULTIPLE PROBLEMS

A routine appointment is for 10 minutes. During this time the clinician needs to read up on your records, call you from the waiting room, deal with your problem and complete your consultation.PLEASE NOTE: If you have more than one problem our clinician may not be possible to deal with it in a single appointment. Please explain to the receptionist on booking if you think you will need more time, they will guide you.

HELP US TO HELP YOU

Please understand that the receptionists and clinical staff are trying to meet the needs of thousands of patients, each of whom are important. We want to offer personal, patient-centred care butwe are often stretched to the limit. Please try to be understanding if things aren’t completely to your satisfaction.

A COPY OF OUR POLICY UNDERSTANDING THE G.P APPOINTMENT SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE FROM THE RECEPTION DESK.

Your feedback during the trial of this system is important to us, please ask at reception for a feedback form

Many thanks for your co-operation

Dr Christina Wilson Dr Nigel Guest

Dr Wes Barnes Dr Sara Saigol