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Very poor

Story from nhs.uk

"Very poor "

About: Crown Heights Medical Centre

The booking on- line appointment system is extremely poor each time I have tried to make an appointment the system is disabled? When I spoke to reception I was informed that the on-line system was disabled due to no further appointments were available on that day apparently the Practice cannot longer book appointments for 2-4 weeks ahead I cannot understand why with today's advanced technology this cannot be achieved. Before COVID you were able to book appointments over the phone 2-4 weeks ahead. I have looked into other GP practices in the Basingstoke area and their patients are able to access an appointment to see their GP within a few weeks therfore I can only presume the system used in Crown Heights is totally inadequate for their patients the very people/community they are there to serve. Personally each time I have gone on line to maker an appointment it has always been disabled therefore I have needed to go to A&E for treatment which GP could of managed which is not helping with problems our local hospitals are experiencing. Prior to going to A&E I called my GP reception who took some of my concerns and informed me that she would get a GP to call me back urgently the GP didn't speak to me someone else phoned me and stated the GP had assed my symptoms and I required physio which was booked for 4 weeks time I was absolutely appalled as I'm sure your aware you cannot assess anyone with out speaking or seeing them interesting I'm still being treated by the consultant at the hospital 8 weeks later. Recently I had an appointment with the nurse who changed my prescription Sent it to the GP to sign waited for 12 days! This only got completed after my personal prompt on my repeat prescription. I was also waiting on some results I was unable to find them on line so I called the Practice who informed me she would ask the on-line team for me to access my results again the system wasn't working. Crown heights used together best practice in Basingstoke now unfortunately I am extremely disappointed and would only rate them with 1* I believe the quality and care and more importantly listening to their patients have deteriated as for their systems they need an urgent review and upgrade. I appreciate that the number of patients have increased however this is not a local problem this exists throughout England that has to be managed and we cannot say that these problems are due to staff shortness I personally worked the NHS for nearly 40 years and the NHS has always been notorious for low staffing levels the problems begin with poor management and prioritising to achieve giving high standards of care with listening skills. I and others look forward to an improved service.

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Responses

Response from Crown Heights Medical Centre 2 days ago
Crown Heights Medical Centre

Submitted on 31/05/2024 at 14:14
Published on nhs.uk at 14:14

Dear Mrs Merchant

Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry that you have had issues with the service from the surgery.

In responding to your concerns, I think it would perhaps be worthwhile me outlining how our appointment system works and why.

Prior to September last year, we operated mix of online consultations and telephone booking, principally based on a first come first served basis. Typically, patients were booked into on the day or routine appointments without any review if that was the most appropriate action. What we identified was that there were a number of appointments every day that were being booked that could have been with another clinician or could have been dealt with via a text message or a referral elsewhere.

Given that there are fewer GPs available and funding in Primary Care is being squeezed every year, thereby having an impact on overall appointment availability we looked for a method to better utilise the appointments we have.

We therefore introduced a total triage model, whereby a GP reviews every appointment request and determines the most appropriate response to the request. Each day the Triage GPs determine based on the number of appointments available at what point we exceed the clinically safe capacity, at which point we refer patients to 111, or if a clinical emergency to A&E. This is no different to what happened under the previous system, other than we know we are seeing more patients that need to be seen/spoken to.

As a patient when you submit a request for an appointment whether that be online or over the phone you can request an appointment 2 to 4 weeks ahead. That request will be reviewed by a GP but if they think you need to be seen earlier or directed to another clinician, they will make that decision. For example, when you called regarding your back, from the detail your provided, the GP assessed that it would best for you to see one of the acute physios we employ as they are best placed to deal with muscular skeletal issues. I can see from the call history that we offered a same day appointment at Old Basing, which you declined, or an appointment at Crown Heights 7 working days later. We also safety netted you to contact us further if your symptoms got worse or to attend A&E. I can see you elected to attend A&E later that day.

With regards to your prescription, I’m afraid I can’t see any drug where you were waiting for 12 days. A nurse changed your medication on 18th April, which was authorised by a GP on 23rd April.

You refer to us not contacting you about a blood test result. We received a call from you on 25th April, and you confirmed we could text the result to you which we did on 26th April.

I trust the forgoing answers you concerns and I trust you can see that we did respond to you promptly and appropriately.

Kind regards

Paul Butterworth

Practice Manager

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