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Appointment system not acceptable

Posted By skyhs64

"Appointment system not acceptable"

About: Lerwick Health Centre

(as the patient),

The Lerwick Health Centre Appointment system is not acceptable. People being asked to ring at 8.30,simply results in no appointments left by 8.45.

 It does not make any difference phoning at 8.30 ,since everyone else is. Let us have a proper appointment system, in which we can make appointments ahead. Texts can be sent to remind patients.

   In addition, the staff at the Lerwick Health Centre are not helpful. The Centre with the closed reception itself is very unwelcoming. 

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Responses

Response from Carolyn Hand, Corporate Services Manager/Complaints Officer, Chief Executive's Department, NHS Shetland 4 years ago
Carolyn Hand
Corporate Services Manager/Complaints Officer, Chief Executive's Department,
NHS Shetland

Submitted on 23/07/2019 at 11:47
Published on Care Opinion at 11:47

We are sorry you have found the appointment system unsatisfactory. We are experiencing an increase in demand for appointments at the same time as some staff have had to be away from work for various reasons. We are monitoring our staffing numbers and demand figures, and are taking steps to temporarily increase staffing over the next few weeks.

The Lerwick Practice appointment system works the same way as all practices in Shetland on a first come first served basis. Pre-bookable appointments are available to be booked ahead but due to current high demand and clinician sickness these appointments are several weeks in the future. Text reminders are available and are used by approximately 50% of our patients, so please ask one of the reception team for more details if you would like to sign up.

If all of the day's appointments have been booked but a patient feels that they need to be seen the same day we would advise them to request an emergency appointment form which is then assessed by a clinician once they have seen all of their booked patients. Please ask the reception staff to explain this process if you require further clarification.

Thank you for your feedback on the reception design. The reception needs to be partitioned for patient confidentiality.

Carolyn Hand

NHS Shetland Corporate Services

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