"Getting appointments"

Hello, I am very sorry to hear this. We have increased our telephone capacity and monitor this weekly. The new system is designed to ensure we can offer more appointments to more patients. We have 3 ways that you can book a telephone appointemnt. You can ring the surgery, you can book on line or you can use 'patient partner' on the telephone system meaning you don't have to wait for reception to pick up the phone. The doctor will ring you back and see you the same day if that is needed. You can also email the practice explaining your problem and a doctor will see this and take appropriate action. Finally we have a duty doctor available every day for emergency cases.

We appreciate that you can't use the on-line system but we do have lots of telephone appointments available that can be booked without using the on-line system. PLease come and talk to the reception manager if you continue to have problems so that we can see how we can help you navigate the system.

Hi, I'm sorry you found my response unhelpful. We spend so much time thinking about how we can improve access for patients given we do have to work within the financial constraints of our budget. Our present system provides many more opportunities for patients to contact us. If you wanted to come and talk personally about this, please do as it can be very helpful to us to hear directly from patients.

Again, I am sorry that the patient partner system wasn't working. We will look in to this. Thank you for sharing in detail the problems you had. I will discuss this with the receptionists and GP partners. We value continuity of care for patients with their GP because we know outcomes are better for patients if they have a doctor who they see. That is why the receptionist mentioned to you when your doctor is available. Of course you cannnot only be ill on the days they work and if you have an urgent need on other days we have a 'duty doctor' available for emergencies am and pm every day. The receptionists are trained to always check if the problem is an emergency so that they can ensure that nobody who needs urgent care is denied it.

Regarding your final point about cost cutting, this is unfair as we have actually increased the number of staff at the practice and everyone is working even harder to try and improve services. You may not be aware that funding for primary care has gone down in real terms for years and use of primary care has gone up. The consultation rates per head of population have increased. This is why a number of GP practices have been forced to close.

The surgery looked quiet because with our new system we are on the phones talking to people, sorting out many problems without necessarily needing to see patients, seeing those patients that need to be seen at a time that the doctor and patient organises so that the doctor can give the right amount of time to each patient. This has dramatically cut down the number of people sitting in the practice waiting to be seen but the number of contacts with patients has equally dramatically risen. Of coure you would not have been aware of why the waiting room looked quiet but I can assure you it was not quiet because the doctors weren't working as hard as they can. You may have seen in the national news that the waiting time to see a GP nationally is now the longest it has ever been. Patients at the Lawson practice no longer have to wait weeks to see a doctor.

We will continue to work to make the service as good as we can for everyone and, as I say, will discuss your concerns more fully. If we make any changes following this I will let you know.