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Good staff; rubbish organisation

Story from nhs.uk

"Good staff; rubbish organisation"

About: Montpelier Health Centre

Made an appointment. Was told that only telephone appointments were possible with a 3 week waiting list. I left my telephone number and advised that my old phone number was no longer active. Waited 3 weeks for the appointment. Typically the GP called the defunct phone number. Made a complaint. Complaint not acknowledged or responded to. Called early morning (waited 50 mins for answer) asking to speak to the practice manager. Said not to call lunch time. 3 hours later (lunch time) received stroppy phone message on my vm from the practice manager. The nursing and auxiliary staff are excellent but the working culture of the surgery stinks and leaves you feeling like they despise their patients, with no means of communicating with them. You are lucky if you even get an appointment.

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Responses

Response from Montpelier Health Centre last month
Montpelier Health Centre

Submitted on 13/03/2024 at 11:24
Published on nhs.uk at 11:24

Dear Mr Northam

We are very sorry and concerned that you feel that we have not met your expectations of care. It is important to us that we put such matters right. I hope I can satisfactorily address the issues you have raised:

I have been able to listen to the call you made to the practice, and the conversation you held with one of our health navigation team. You clearly explained the situation with the current provider of your mobile phone and asked to be called on your landline. The health navigator noted this in the booking notes for the GP to read when contacting you for your appointment.

Unfortunately, the GP missed this information and attempted to phone you on your mobile and you therefore did not receive a call. I am very sorry that this happened. The GP has also asked me to convey his apologies for this oversight.

Your email of complaint was sent to bnssg.mhccomplaints@nhs.net on 7th March 2024 at 17.47 hours. An acknowledgement email, together with an apology and a newly booked appointment date was emailed in direct response to your message (using the email address that you had messaged on), on 8th March 2024 at 8.51 hours.

I have listened to all calls relating to your telephone number. None are recorded from the Practice Manager, and I have confirmed with her that she has not had any contact with you at any time. The calls recorded for your telephone number are conversations held with a health navigator and the dialogue is always pleasant and helpful towards you. If you can provide any further information regarding the voice mail you received, that would be helpful in identifying the caller, as the call does not appear to emanate from MHC.

We recognise there is a huge demand for primary care services everywhere. It is a significant challenge to meet this demand given the limitations on our resources. Please be assured that all clinical and administrative staff employed at the practice (and elsewhere within the NHS) continue to work extremely hard to meet the needs of our patients in such circumstances.

On notification of your published review, I telephoned you to explain that we had contacted you promptly to apologise and offer another appointment. Unfortunately, you had not received my email and therefore were unaware that a further call had been booked for 12th March 2024 and you therefore subsequently missed the call.

I was able to resend my email to evidence that it had been sent on 8th March 2024, and to advise you that you would be contacted that afternoon (12th March 2024) by the Duty Doctor. I understand that the GP who originally called you yesterday morning, called you again in the afternoon and discussed your health issues. The Duty Doctor also later called you, but you were able to tell him that you had already held a telephone consultation with Dr Guest.

Please accept our apologies for any distress or inconvenience this situation may have caused.

Caroline Hawkins

Patient Services Manager.

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