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"Frustrating"

About: Loddon Vale Practice

A very common complaint about this surgery is the frustrating appointments system. Stand in the queue at the neighbouring pharmacy and all you will hear is people complaining about it. It is painful to see your anxious wife bury her head in her hands after unsuccessfully trying to arrange an appointment. Being told you rang at the wrong time of day, unable to get through at the "right" time of day, 45 minutes on hold is a very expensive phone call which can end up a waste of time. It seems as if some of the reception staff (not all) consider their job is to frustrate ill people so much that they just give up and suffer without help instead. It seems like it is only today or two weeks, no other option. If it is always two weeks then it is a backlog that needs clearing so it becomes today or tomorrow. And try and remember that we do pay throughout our lives for medical care. It is not a privilege. If an offered appointment is not convenient that doesn't mean we are not ill, it means some people don't have the freedom to attend at any time. Please take this seriously and try and think how you can improve this system so as not to make unwell people even more unwell.

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Responses

Response from Loddon Vale Practice 3 years ago
Loddon Vale Practice
Submitted on 20/10/2021 at 16:00
Published on nhs.uk on 21/10/2021 at 13:12


Thank you for taking the time to make this review, and I am sorry you find the appointment system frustrating; we have tried to make it as simple as possible. We have appointments available every day with our clinicians, patients should call as near to 8 a.m. as possible to make sure they are booked in that day, if you wish to see a particular clinician, if it’s a routine appointment or you would like a more convenient day then we can book up to 5 weeks in advance. We have installed a new telephone system in October which has vastly improved the wait time on the phone, it also has a call back facility, the reception team can see how many callers are on the system and how long they have been waiting. Since being installed at our busiest time between 8-9 a.m. the average wait time is 20 minutes. I can assure you the whole team are doing their very best for our patients, working tirelessly over the last 18 months we have given over 15,000 covid vaccinations as well as continuing our clinics, we have never stopped our daily Phlebotomy clinic, treatment room, baby immunisations as well as chronic disease management which our patients rely on. Our Clinicians have seen every patient that needed to be seen face to face all the way through the pandemic. Loddon Vale will have completed their 2021 flu campaign by the end of October this includes all our housebound patients. I am very proud of the way the Practice staff have given 100% every day, even when we have been short staffed due to isolating and sickness, we have kept our Practice safe and open for our patients.

I am always available to discuss any matter of concern.

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