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Sometimes excellent - sometimes not

Story from nhs.uk

"Sometimes excellent - sometimes not "

About: Clapham Park Group Practice

Today, in accordance with now standard practise, I contacted my prescription provider Superdrug to request renewal just slightly earlier than usual in it's due month of August as I am going on holiday and my request was taken but I was advised to telephone the Group Practice to explain the reason for the slightly premature request. I did so immediately but when I was put through to a receptionist she told me I would have to write in to explain my holiday dates or contact Superdrug again and tell them to advise the surgery of the reason for my request. I explained that THEY had told ME to phone the surgery and I was only asking for the prescription a couple of weeks early anyway. In fact, they often have their fax machine on to the detriment of the phone service and it can take ages to get through to them. She took no notice of this whatsoever and sounded like a robot - finally saying "We must have a paper trail!!" Magic. Welcome to the life of progress in the 21st century. I am no further forward. I am in my 80th year and have been with this practice for well over 30 years. The E consult system is total rubbish also and asks completely irrelevant questions and God help anyone who is not IT literate as they are well stuffed.

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Responses

Response from Clapham Park Group Practice 2 years ago
Clapham Park Group Practice

Submitted on 03/08/2021 at 11:04
Published on nhs.uk at 20:53

Hello. Thank you for your feedback.

I am sorry that you were left feeling unhappy following your discussions with our team yesterday. I am aware that Eileen, a member of our reception team and Shannon, our manager, tried to resolve these queries for you over the phone.

It is standard practice across the UK to take all prescription requests in writing. This is done for the benefit of all patients, as it is shown to minimise the risk of prescribing errors caused by non-clinicians incorrectly recording medications or dosages when taking requests from patients. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but we do have lots of different ways you can place a prescription request. You can order in person at the practice, by post or by asking your community pharmacist to order on your behalf. You can also order online via eConsult, the NHS App, Patient Access or by email.

I am sorry that your community pharmacist advised you to call the practice. This was not necessary as your prescription request was only two weeks early and would have been processed. When making a request your pharmacy can add any relevant notes or queries they may have to help smooth the prescribing process.

Our fax machine was disconnected in April 2020 in line with NHS England guidance, and our phone system was upgraded in March this year to improve telephone access. Our phone lines were very busy yesterday morning as two of our receptionists were absent, however the average wait time on our phone system is usually between 1 minute and 1.5 minutes. Our phone lines are open for all queries between 8am-12pm and 1:30pm-5:30pm Monday to Friday.

I am sorry that you do not find our eConsult service helpful. We recommend this to patients who like to use online services, and who like to raise their queries in the evenings when we are closed. The eConsult service is available every hour between 8am on Monday and 6:30pm on Friday.

We do have a full telephone service available for patients who prefer, or need, to speak to someone. If you need to speak to a doctor urgently you can request a 2-hour call-back from our emergency doctor. For other queries you can request a call-back from your usual GP when they are next available.

Best Wishes,

Chris Newman - Managing Partner

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