I have found trying to access services at porter brook is a very trying and difficult process. This is largely due to the way in which its tried to implement, and insist on me using its on-line system.
The primary advantage of an on-line system is it allows both the patient and practice to automate the scheduling of appointments etc. Saving everyone time and effort. In this regard the system fails me, for me it doesn't save any time or indeed effort, it also fails to cope with the fact that I don't always want to access the practice that way.
One of the first problems is its not properly automated, it simply collects data for a person who then decides if you should get a link to create an appointment or not. As that person is not engaged with me like they would be, in person, or on the phone. The details supplied by me don't appear to be taken on board, and the person sends the patient a link to book their default appointment type a phone appointment, which in many cases its not possible to do the things needed in that appointment. This is an issue that those who design systems professionally are full a where of. There a two parts to that problem of using a human as part of a decision making in a process like this. Firstly it could de-sensitise the human to the details, and as they process more requests. Its simply not possible to take in the details in for multiple superficially similar requests. This could leading to poor decision making (e.g. Allocating the wrong appointment type), as the details needed to drive that decision are not taken on board.
My appointment was possibly made by the person doing it clicking what they did for the last request. It's the same principle as if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. Why does this matter, apart from the waste of time and resource which in my case 4 separate phone calls and multiple web forms for 1 appointment. Also instead of getting it sorted with in the week I made contact, its now going to take 3 weeks, lets hope it do not end up being any thing urgent. It matters because for many it takes an mount of effort, to get over the initial hump of making an appointment. As its not something they really want to do, but are forced to by circumstances.
These road blocks put in the way by the practice at each point make me feel like just giving up.
Here is the patient experience of this. Want to phone a make an appointment, well you can't, fill-out a web-form. You're preferences can get in the bin. Get the wrong type of appointment, they are very reticent to fix that over the phone, but as they don't have a web-form for that, they eventually have to. Discover GP's are now not talking blood pressure measurements at my practice, well now you must schedule a separate appointment (on-line despite the fact I discovered this in a phone call to them). As I have to have a blood pressure test before the GP's appointment, well now I must cancel the GP appointment, as I have book the blood pressure test, then book another GP appointment to occur after the test. All this after I gave them all the details including the need for the blood pressure test the first time.
Each of these points, is an event that may lead the to patient giving in, as each one is a road block they make the patient solve, even though the error causing the issue, is on the practices side. Surely, patients giving up is dangerous, who knows what medical problems they have, and how much worse those problems might get until the patient gets the point where they try again. I feel Porter brook is failing is patients in this regard, however, its only become so difficult to use since 2020, prior to this the practice was run in a more efficient manner where you could just book an appointment over the phone, make sure the details where correct all in a single interaction.
Reception