This is a review of the appointment process in the surgery and not of the GPs or staff.
Where I appreciate the need to have a process in place for booking appointments, I genuinely can’t understand the management of the booking process, particularly for the 5 card appointments you can book directly in the surgery with the receptionist.
It is in my opinion that this is poorly organised and causes unnecessary anxiety to both staff and patients alike. The process as I understand it is the receptionist can only book 5 appointments in the surgery, beyond that you have to book either on the NHS app or call the surgery at the allotted times. This part makes sense to me, what doesn’t make sense is the organisation for the process. For example, I walking in today at 13:10 to book an appointment as I’ve had no luck getting an appointment over the phone or online. On arrival I was instructed, as on a previous occasion, that i can wait to try and secure 1 of 5 appointment cards available for when the appointment window opens up. At the time I walked into the surgery there was only two other ladies sat in the practice waiting, me being the third person to walk in. Previous experience told me to stay standing in the queue line to secure my place as the arguments from frustrated patients last time was unpleasant to observe. Unfortunately, this was not ideal for me having to stand for nearly 45 minutes as my current health concern is related to a painful joint condition.
However, what genuinely confuses me is that every person walking in for an appointment is simply told the same thing regardless of how many people that are now waiting! This is what is creating the frustration amongst patients. No one would be happy after waiting up to 45 minutes to secure an appointment to then be told all 5 card appointments have gone to the first five people.
It’s honestly not that there are only 5 appointment cards available that’s the problem here, it’s the fact it’s left to the patients to debate it out after finding out they wasting their time waiting.
My advice to avoid this is to simply manage the patience expectation on arrival by handing out the cards to the first five people through the door (first come first serve basis) with all later patients being told to use the app or call the surgery at the allotted booking times.
Second to that, I would strongly recommend that a manager or supervisor take the opportunity to sit in the waiting area to observe the current process to try and understand how flawed this process is and to then make positive changes to alleviate any unnecessary stress for all concerned during the busy booking windows. On a side note, I gratefully was able to secure an appointment with the GP today.
"Flawed appointment booking process"
About: Harborne Medical Practice Harborne Medical Practice Birmingham B17 0HG
Posted via nhs.uk
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