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The best in 20th century medicine

Story from nhs.uk

"The best in 20th century medicine"

About: Wellfield Medical Centre

It is now August 2021 and this practice still has scheduling routines like it is the 1960s. Not only you do have to call to make an appointment, but they instruct you to only call at specific times, because apparently their booking system only works in two short half hour periods a day.

As of this date, 88.7% of adults received the first dose and 73.2% received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but apparently the news has not reached the practice, as they still push patients to phone "consultations", which are nothing short of having someone read you the content of the corresponding NHS webpage for the symptoms you report.

It is 2021, people have smartphones, the vaccination is well underway: give your patients the ability to do online booking, resume face-to-face appointments, and provide better, actual advise based on the available evidence, not generic read-this-NHS-webpage advice.

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Responses

Response from Wellfield Medical Centre 2 years ago
Wellfield Medical Centre

Submitted on 11/08/2021 at 16:14
Published on nhs.uk at 21:02

We are sorry that you are not aware of the many digital ways appointments and consultations are being delivered by the practice and have been for over a year since the pandemic began.

We have been seeing patients face to face since the first day the pandemic started . Face to face appointments have been given for a spectrum of reasons from urgent problems to routine smears and chronic disease reviews.

Appointments and consultations can be made online through the link on our website. We also offer the additional choice of being able to make appointments over the phone to ensure equality of access for those who may not be able to go online or use digital technology. The appointments are varied throughout the day to give opportunity for those that may struggle to contact us in the morning or to address health issues that arise later in the day.

Telephone consultations are with appropriate clinicians who can determine , with the patient, the most suitable next step to manage the problem. This can be a video consultation which is done immediately or a face-to-face consultation within 24 hours with a doctor/nurse/HCA/ physicians associate/pharmacist depending on what is required. All our clinicians practice evidence-based medicine so it should be like the information found on NHS webpages as the evidence base is the same.

We also offer language translators and BSL sign language interpreters for all our patients.

Telephone, face to face, online and video consultations will continue for the foreseeable future. Thank you for highlighting this as it has allowed us to share again with others the wealth of resources and technology available at Wellfield Medical Centre. If you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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