"Just so awful"

Dear Patient,

It is important we hear from patients when things could have gone better at the practice as this helps us learn and make improvements, so we thank you for your comments.

We are sorry you have had difficulty in booking an appointment. Our telephone lines open at 8am and we are aware that they are extremely busy at the moment. This is because although lockdown restrictions are easing, we are still maintaining a Covid secure environment and most patients continue to be assessed remotely before being offered a face-to-face appointment.

NHS 111 have appointments protected in our appointment book that only they can book. NHS 111 are able to book patients directly into these appointments if they feel the patient needs to be seen that day. We are therefore disappointed to hear that 111 did not offer you one of these appointments.

Since you posted you comment we have increased our Multi-Disciplinary Team and now have 2 Paramedics working at the practice consulting with patients who have minor illnesses. We also have locum GP’s working at the practice to increase the number of appointments available per week. We have a First Contact Practitioner seeing patients for assessment and advice on Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and a Pharmacist available for medication queries, structured medication reviews and management of long-term conditions. We are also able to book consultations for patients with minor illness at an NHS Community Pharmacist working with our practice at a local Pharmacy. Over the coming months we will also have a Social Prescribing Link Worker and a Care Coordinator working at the practice. We also have a duty doctor available for medical emergencies Monday to Friday until 6:30pm.

We hope these measures will help to improve access to our services. Should you wish to discuss further please do not hesitate to contact the me.

Kind regards

Diana Lock - Practice Manager