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Not for the patient

Story from nhs.uk

"Not for the patient"

About: Hugglescote Surgery

I attempted to speak to a doctor and was told by the rude person who answered the phone to complete the online form. There was no offer of help to fill the form in as it says on the answer system. The form was completed and the rude person did ring back as I suspect the doctor having read my symptoms considered it could an emergency. I could not get into the surgery so the call handler said I had to fill the form in on another day and I couldn’t speak to the doctor on the phone. There was a total lack of any patient empathy and I am not sure how patients needs can be serviced by this bureaucratic system. I was disgusted. After more than 30 years at this surgery I feel the time has come to move to a surgery that puts the patient first not the system.

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Responses

Response from Hugglescote Surgery 8 months ago
Hugglescote Surgery

Submitted on 05/09/2024 at 11:51
Published on nhs.uk at 11:52

Dear Mrs Hurst

Thank you for your feedback. We are very sorry to hear of your poor experience, however it is really appreciated when staff interactions are highlighted so that we can review calls and practice procedures in the hope we can continue to improve our services.

I have listened to the telephone call you made to the practice and also the telephone call from us to you, yesterday, Wednesday 4th September. I do appreciate and take on board the feedback that can be taken away from the first call with the practice and this will be fed back to the wider team to improve future call handling.

This is a very new system that went live on the 1st August whereby we are trialling a new appointment system. We are asking all patients to complete an online consultation form, which is clearly signposted on our website (unless you do not have internet access, as confirmed on our answering system). All requests are then triaged by a GP to ensure that all medical issues have had clinical oversight, taking the pressure off our nonclinical reception staff and reassuring our patients that you will be receiving the most appropriate treatment or advice in the most appropriate timeframe.

In your case our GP wanted to see you the same day due to your symptoms and concerns shared on the form. Unfortunately you were out of area and unable to attend a face to face appointment yesterday. Our second receptionist called you less than 40 minutes later and politely explained that due to your symptoms you would need face to face assessment for concerns that cannot be safely consulted over the phone and appropriately explained as you were unable to attend the practice, you were advised to complete a repeat consultation form when you were back in the area and able to be assessed by a GP.

Once again thank you, we do take all feedback on board and are constantly trying to improve our services for our valued patients.

We do hope you have a more positive experience going forward and that you do not decide to register elsewhere. Please do not hesitate to contact us in writing, hugglescote.surgery@nhs.net if you experience any further issues.

Kind regards

Amy Birch

Management Team Administrator

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