Dr G Gupta
South Reddish Medical Centre
Patient Participation Group
Action Plan 2014/15
Improving Access
Bookable, Acute & Routine Appointments
Survey Results
You said…..
82% of patients who completed our survey were fairly satisfied with the length of wait to be seen for a bookable appointment
33% of patients completing the survey think the new bookable appointment system will work better for them, with 66% not sure but willing to
give it a try!
Disappointingly, only 11% found that if they needed an acute appointment they can normally get seen the same day with 72% stating they
didn’t know or never needed to. In addition of those surveyed only 11% of patients confirmed the last time they needed an acute appointment
they were offered a same or next day appointment with a further 11% offered an appointment to been seen within 2-4 days & 55% didn’t know or
never tried!
83% of patients completing the survey felt it was important to be able to book routine appointments ahead of time.
72% of patient surveyed felt it was important to book a routine appointment with your usual doctor. However, disappointingly of those surveyed
only 5% of patients trying to book a routine appointment with their usual doctor were seen same or next day with 55% waiting to be seen within
2-4 days & 22% waiting 5 days or more!
Patient Feedback/Comments
You said…..
In response to length of wait to be seen for an acute appointment. In the past, if I've needed to be seen quickly I've usually attended morning
open surgery
I have been a patient with SR Medical centre for many years and have found a way to relate to your service which suits me
I have not seen a doctor since the move to new premises so am unable to comment on current issues. I am now confused as to whether you still
operate open surgeries or whether it is by appointment only now. I found it quicker to get an appointment with Dr Simpson as I work an hour
away and it is difficult to get time off to attend midday (before 4pm) appointments with Dr Gupta..
The practice works really well. My experience of both GP's and support staff has been excellent. The drop in is good but you have to be there
early as the service is very busy. As a disabled parent, I struggle to make the drop in when needed as I am unable to get the support I need to
attend early in the day. Appointments are a better option for my circumstances.
We proposed….
The Practice Team reflected on this, and in order to rectify areas of concern and improve the availability of bookable, acute & routine
appointments and overall access arrangements, has or would like to instigate the following:
For patients needing an urgent same day appointment, we currently offer open access arrangements where patients will always get seen
on the day of their choice if they arrive in surgery before 10.30am
Introduction of 5 designated appointments available on a daily basis and offered to children/adults at “high risk” [of admission]
categorised as follows:
o Aged 65 & over
o Aged up to 65 with a chronic disease
o Patients with a care plan
o Under 16’s
If any appointments remain unused these can be allocated for same day appointment requests
To support ease of access to a GP the Practice continues to offer same day telephone access for urgent appointments on a daily basis
Following re-location to new purpose built premises and a review of the practice’s appointment system, bookable appointments have
been introduced for all afternoon surgeries
The Practice appointed 1 new Doctor following the relocation to new premises in September 2014. It is anticipated that the arrival of Dr
Simpson, who will provide 4 additional sessions per week will lead to increased appointment availability
Practice Receptionist, Gill Morrison is currently undertaking training to become a fully-fledged Health Care Assistant. She will officially
commence her duties in April 2015 to increase blood test appointment availability and to “free up” Practice Nurse, Sister Stanion’s time to
allow her to concentrate her efforts on her designated areas of responsibility for Chronic Disease Management within the Practice.
To increase patient awareness on accessing the most appropriate care in a timely manner , we plan to feature an article on our
appointments system on the Practice Website and in the soon to be introduced half yearly Practice Newsletter explaining
o How requests for urgent, same day appointments are managed
o The difference between an urgent and a routine appointment
o And advising that for urgent appointments, it is not always possible to see a preferred GP
The Practice recognises that continuity of care is very important and improves health outcomes. However, practically it is difficult to
arrange appointments at short notice with a named Doctor, but we would encourage patients with on-going conditions to book ahead with
their preferred GP
Extended Opening Hours
Survey Results
You said…..
83% of patients who completed our survey were satisfied with the practices current opening arrangements
Patient Feedback/Comments
You said…..
I personally would like more availability of practice nurse appointments. Currently these are only available during office hours and I think it would
be useful to the wider population of the practice to have late night and Saturday appointments on a more regular basis
We proposed….
The Practice continues to participate in the Extended Hours Directed Enhanced Service, which requires the Practice to provide 1.5 hours
of additional GP/Nurse appointments outside of core hours (8am – 6.30pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) per week
The Practice has also agreed to provide additional Extended hours appointments to double the current commitment provided under the
above Directed Enhanced Service (and no longer have a weekly Wednesday half day closure) on the following basis:
o 2 Dr led and 1 Practice Nurse led (to include NHS Health Check appointments) sessions per week are held on Thursdays
commencing at 7.30am, to offer early morning appointments to increase working patients choice and access to the surgery
Repeat Non-Attendance Policy
Survey Results
You said…..
94% of patients surveyed think that the Practice needs a policy to deal with patients who regularly fail to attend appointments
We proposed….
In the last 3 months approximately 125 appointments have been recorded as ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA), i.e. the patient fails to turn up for
their appointment and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change the appointment. The effect of these are:
o
o
o
o
An increase in the waiting time for appointments
Frustration for both staff and patients
A waste of resources
A potential risk to the health of the patient
To support a reduction in missed appointments the Practice would like to introduce a Repeat Non Attendance Policy which will be
conveyed to the patients, and whilst it is designed to reduce DNA‘s in some cases exceptions will be needed:
o
o
o
If a patient fails to attend a pre-booked appointment on more than one occasion in the last 12 months, an informal warning letter will
be sent to the patient, advising them that a further occurrence could risk removal from the Practice.
If the patient fails to attend another appointment, the matter will be discussed at a practice meeting and a majority agreement will be
reached as to whether the patient will be removed from the Practice list. In this case a formal warning letter will be issued.
Warning letters will be valid for a period of 12 months. Removal based on warnings greater than 12 months old will be invalid – in this
case a further formal warning and period of grace will be required
IT Service Developments
Survey Results
You said…..
100% of patients surveyed think that the Practice should offer online booking of some routine appointments, and 88% think that online ordering
of prescriptions should be introduced.
Patient Feedback/Comments
You said…..
Online booking would be good and free up the receptionists as they seem to be always on the phone, very busy ladies but always smiling
We proposed……
The practice continually strives to improve its services and access to them. We are looking to further develop the website and our online
services, and to support this will instigate the following:
The General Medical Service (GMS) Contract 2014/15 requires all general practices in England to offer Patient Online access by the end
of March 2015. Specifically, the services which must be available to patients are:
o
o
o
Booking appointments online
Ordering prescriptions online
Accessing patient records online
To support this, the Practice is currently working with its Clinical System supplier, Microtest to make “The Waiting Room” module
available to patients to provide convenient 24 hour access to facilities previously available only by telephone or by visiting the
surgery. Please contact The Practice if you would like to benefit from these facilities, which will enable you to have access to the
following services: Appointment Requests, Medication Requests & Allergy Information
To enhance the patient journey the Practice is also looking to install both “Arrivee” and “Appel” the practices clinical system supplier,
Microtest’s solutions to automating arrival of patients and TV patient paging system respectively. The TV paging system uses a TV to
page the patient when the Doctor or Nurse is ready to start their consultation
To support improved overall communication , the Practice would like to be able to contact patients by text message and/or email for the
purposes of health promotion, practice news and for appointment reminders To support introduction of this new service, it is essential that
we update your records, and would be grateful if you could either contact the surgery or when next visiting the surgery complete a
Communication Consent Form (available from Reception) to provide us with both your mobile and email addresses.
Additional Services
Survey Results
You said…..
94% of patients who completed the survey think that it would be a good idea to consider introducing a Minor Surgery Service
Patient Feedback/Comments
You said…..
The practice is already busy without adding extra services like minor surgery
We proposed……
Following re-location to the new premises which comply with the required standards for providing surgical procedures, the practices newly
appointed GP, Dr Simpson would like to introduce a Minor Surgery Service. To support this the Practice is in the process of submitting an
application to join the Greater Manchester (NHS England) Minor Surgery List.
Other Comments
You said…..
I personally think the new seating in reception needs to be looked at it is so embarrassing having to go to the toilet in front of all the patients just
staring at the door and the reception desk there is no privacy for you to talk to the receptionist's because everyone can hear you
The new surgery is Lovely and bright, however the chairs all face to the toilets and main entrance. I personally think it is not nice being watched
walking passed everyone coming into surgery or going to the toilet plus I think there is no privacy when discussing things at the reception
The layout of the chairs in the reception area doesn't really work.
We proposed……
The Practice finally re-located to new purpose built premises in the South Reddish Health Clinic on 1st September 2014 which included a
total refurbishment of the premises and entailed internal modernisation works, with a number of walls being demolished to create
additional space and to include the following:
o 2 additional consulting rooms to double consulting capacity
o Electronic doors installed at the public entrance to the health clinic
o Upgrade of the patient waiting area on an open plan arrangement to include new chairs, Redecoration, a suspended ceiling with new
brighter lighting & a new reception desk with disabled access.
o Disabled toilet facilities
o Baby changing facilities (available in the female staff toilet)
In response to concerns raised regarding the positioning of chairs in the waiting room, the Practice will investigate changing the lay out,
on the proviso that cabling for the new “Appel” TV Paging System can be re-directed to the opposite wall that it was originally intended.
To increase patient awareness of their rights to confidentiality, posters will be prominently displayed on patient notice boards in the
waiting room titled “Privacy at the Reception Desk” to increase patients awareness that if they require this facility, they can speak to a
Receptionist or other member of the Practice team in confidence
.