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Diabolical service!

Story from nhs.uk

"Diabolical service!"

About: Dr Stephenson & Partners

Every time I try to contact this surgery It takes between 20-40 minutes of being on hold to get through, even before Covid restrictions. On this occasion there was a recorded suggestion that I submit an econsult. I stayed on hold to do this (7th in the queue). I had to go through a registration process, taking about 15minutes (by then I was 4th in the queue). The econsult then instructed me to seek help elsewhere. Totally pointless! I am still on hold (currently 2nd) which has taken 38 minutes!!!!!!!

When is the management of this practice going to consider their patient focus and either utilise their staff more efficiently or reduce their patient numbers to a more manageable level. This frustrates me so much and I can’t imagine how it would feel if I was really debilitated. The appointment wait time is also unacceptable, again suggesting there are too many patients in this practice. I will be moving elsewhere if this does get addressed.

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Responses

Response from Dr Stephenson & Partners 3 years ago
Dr Stephenson & Partners

Submitted on 05/11/2020 at 12:03
Published on nhs.uk at 14:05

Dear patient,

thank you for your comments with regard to our service.

We are currently experiencing a higher volume of phone calls as the automated and online booking facility has been suspended due to Covid-19. We since have had an increase of phone calls coming into the practice. All calls are being screened and need to be signed posted to the appropriate service hence, the econsult facility has been added to the practice message for patients to access as this will help to manage our volume of calls but to sign post appropriately. This facility is available to all patients and is advertised by Practices across the City.

We are aware of the current issues (and previous ones) with regard to the Phone system. We are currently investigating issues reported by patients with our telephone provider and are trying to get to the bottom of technical issues that have been reported not only by patients but also by staff. This investigation is currently ongoing and we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Thank you for your feedback, however, if you wish to discuss concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Practice Manager.

Thank you.

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