Mangate Street, Swaffham. Norfolk. PE37 7QN
Practice Survey 2014-15
The Patient Participation Group (PPG) has held monthly meetings
throughout the last year.
It was agreed that the practice should conduct a patient survey on the
Appointments System as the PPG considers it a key factor for most
patients, as shown in the results of previous surveys. Following on from last
years’ successful survey, a similar one was produced, primarily to gauge
patient response regarding appointment availability at the practice.
In consultation with the PPG, the attached survey was approved. This was
given to patients over a 2 week period with a return rate of 57%, a 3%
improvement on the previous year.
Question 1 asked how easy it was to gain a particular type of appointment,
rated on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 was very difficult and 5 was very
easy.
1
a) Urgent appointments
86% of patients found it easy to get an urgent appointment, a 5%
improvement on last year.
b) Routine appointments
75% of patients surveyed responded to this question, of which 86% found it
easy to make a routine appointment.
c) Appointments with a doctor of choice
40% of patients found it easy to make an appointment with a particular
doctor.
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2 Do you use the online appointment booking system
93% of patients surveyed responded to this question, and 21% are using
the online service. This is a marked increase on last year. Of those not
using it, only 34% would like further details.
3 Answering the telephone/line engaged
Everyone responded to this question, of which 76% were satisfied with the
time it takes their call to be answered.
4 Branch appointments
As expected, a relatively small proportion of patients surveyed responded
to this question. Of those, 60% responded that it is easy to get an
appointment at their village surgery.
5 Out of hours
53% of responses indicated that they would call 111, 41% would call the
surgery and only 6% would go to A&E.
6 Services awareness
The majority of patients are aware of the services on offer at the practice.
7 Area for improvement
Comments were added to 41% of the surveys returned, most of which were
complimentary regarding the quality of the practice in general. Any specific
suggestions have been listed in the action plan with a response.
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Practice Action Plan
Appointments
We have improved urgent appointment availability, using a combination of
telephone triage and improved appointment management. We are pleased
with the feedback and results, but will continue to closely monitor routine
and urgent appointment availability with a view to further improvement.
Booking appointments with a specific doctor is something that many of you
would like to do, and the results this year still show room for improvement
Our two female GPs work part time. Dr Ciara Killeen also has a teaching
commitment one day each week during term-time when medical students
are trained here at the practice. This reduces her availability considerably.
The current wait for a routine appointment with Dr Killeen is 4 weeks.
Dr Ian Haczewski also has a training post and teaches medical students on
two days each week during term-time which again reduces his availability
for patient appointments. The current wait for a routine appointment with Dr
Haczewski is also 4 weeks.
The practice is unable to provide additional appointments with the part time
doctors due to their outside commitments. However, patients are welcome
to book appointments with other GPs in the practice. All doctors at the
practice have full access to patient medical records and history. In addition
to the four partners, the practice has one salaried female GP and two fully
qualified (f2) doctors currently training in General Practice.
Routine appointments with a doctor of your choice can be booked 6 weeks
in advance. For urgent appointments - although we cannot guarantee the
doctor of choice - there will usually be at least two doctors to choose from.
Although it has been available for several years, the proportion of patients
using the online booking facility for appointments is relatively small. It is an
easily navigated, user-friendly system. The practice will continue to
promote the use of online booking via notices throughout our surgeries,
leaflets attached to dispensary medications and on our website.
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Answering the telephone
The practice continues to review internal processes and analyse busy
periods, and feels that this year it has achieved a lot in terms of optimising
staffing levels. Reception has seen a number of changes, and the first
apprentice receptionist has just been awarded apprentice of the year by the
College of West Anglia. More apprentices have been enrolled, and the
practice hopes to continue with staff development in this way.
This year BT undertook some major upgrade work to the incoming
phone/data lines, and that’s seen the systems work faster and more
reliably. Now that has been done, the telephone system will be reviewed,
with the hope of further minimising waiting times, and making best use of
technology to meet the patients’ needs.
Out of hours
We are pleased to see a big reduction in the number of patients that would
go directly to A&E when the surgery is closed, down from 14% to 6%. The
practice launched a promotional campaign to educate patients on the
options for out of hours care last year, and will continue to do this as it
seems to have made a difference.
Available Services
The practice started an INR clinic this year and this has proven very
successful. There is building work planned that will enable this clinic to take
place close to the main waiting room, improving access and reducing
waiting time. The PPG are also funding the purchase of a new INR
machine to make this even more effective.
The practice website has recently been given a facelift, and in due course
all current services will be listed there, as well as in the main surgery
reception/waiting room.
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Patient comments from the survey
41% of patients surveyed left a comment. We were delighted to receive so
many positive remarks, with very few negative ones. These will be shared
with the practice team. Suggestions are listed below with our reply, unless
already previously mentioned in this action plan.
Water cooler in reception – Cups of water are available from reception on
request.
Reading material in waiting room – Magazines are kept in wall-mounted
racks on the wall opposite the reception desk.
Increase parking – The practice onsite parking is at full capacity and cannot
be increased.
Display names of Drs on duty – We utilise an automated booking system
that advises you of which doctor you will see, and will ensure that this is
always updated.
Bell on front reception desk – We’re going to carry out building work to
improve visibility – while maintaining confidentiality – between the front and
rear reception areas.
Publishing the survey results
This action plan, together with a report written by the practice manager, will
be available on the practice website. These documents will be displayed in
each of the 3 surgery waiting rooms with further copies available at
Reception on request.
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