Results of Patient Survey 2013
In the past six months how easy have you found the following?
The last time you saw a doctor or nurse at the surgery, how happy were you with the following?
Conclusion
The survey was carried out over a four day period during the busy morning surgery, by two members of the Patient Participation Group. A total of 212 questionnaires were completed. The results will now be discussed at the next PPG meeting in March.
The results were mostly positive, whilst highlighting areas for improvement.
With regards to the question why were you not able to get an appointment this was mostly due to patients not being able to fit the appointment around their work pattern and it was also noted that the appointments are all taken very early in the day. In order to relieve some of this pressure, the Practice has implement a new appointment system in which the on call GP is not booked until the day, thus offering appointments in advance with the other GPs and retaining availability for those patients that need to be seen the same day.
12 patients stated that they do not have any problems with obtaining an appointment, and 61% of the patients found that they were able to self-treat or visit a pharmacy, thus reducing the need for a GP.
Despite 88% of patients making appointments by telephone, the majority feel it is easy to get through on the telephone, this may be in some way due to the recent modernisation of the telephone system and an extra telephone being installed in reception.
The survey shows that patients are finding it difficult to obtain their test results via telephone and / or speak to a health professional, this will be an area we will aim to improve over the next six months.
Of the 130 patients wishing to be seen urgently, 70% were able to get an appointment. Of the remaining 30% the reasons given were there were not any appointments (58%) and the appointment was with a GP I did not want to see (26%). The reception are trained in ensuring that if the patient feels it is urgent for the same day then the patient should be offered a 5 min appointment at the end of surgery. This will be advertised further throughout the surgery and website to ensure patients are aware of this. Unfortunately it is not possible to stipulate which GP the patient will see for urgent appointment as it will depend on who is on duty on any particular day.
33% of patients are not happy that they can be overheard when speaking to reception. There are plans in place for a renovation of the reception area and the surgery is awaiting funding for this via the new housing being built in the area.
Overall the patients are happy with the care they are receiving when seeing a health professional and only 15% of patients are unhappy with the surgery and three quarters of the patients would recommend the surgery to their family and friends.