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Poor response from GP services

Posted By upset1952

"Poor response from GP services"

About: Carn to Coast Health Centres

(as the patient),

I was rudely and dismissively dealt with by receptions staff at Carn to Coast GPP after they did not fulfill my arranged appointment in October.

It took 20 minutes+ to contact the reception at Carn to coast GPP.  In order  to find an explanation for this failure. I was advised that the appointment had been changed by the GPP. No explanation was given for this change, no time-frame for when this change was made was offered and when asked why the change was made I had a very rude reply that they had not changed the booking.  Additionally no further correspondence via letter, email or text had been received for the same.

This is very upsetting as I had waited from September for this telephone review even though I had requested a face to face appointment. I had waited in all day to ensure the call was not missed and it seemed Carn to Coast never had any intention to meeting its commitments. I was made to feel this was my mistake rather than theirs and that I should not expect better care.
I finally received a telephone review  after what I feel was my prompting. The GP could offer no apology or explanation for the failure. Being totally disinterested to any distress caused.
I am very upset that Carn to Coast seems to be disinterested in me as a patient. I originally sought medical advice for a very private and distressing problem back in August and to date seem no further forward. Tests/investigations have been taken but never fed back on without extensive chasing on my part.  
It seems I will be going for further blood tests and investigations. These seems to be as an appeasement reaction and I have a low expectation that I will receive any feed back or physical clinical assessment from Carn to Coast GPP. 
Just to finish, as a closing comment from my GP today was that bowel changes can occur to somebody of 68 years. This was said after never meeting me or in the absence of any physical assessment. I am not interested in can, I am interested in why, and I would have thought as my general practitioner it was their duty of care to find out. 
 

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Responses

Response from Patient liaison Officer, Carn to Coast Health Centres 2 years ago
Carn to Coast Health Centres

Submitted on 15/11/2021 at 10:01
Published on Care Opinion at 13:45

We are sorry that the writer is dissatisfied with our service and, if they would care to identify themselves to us, we would certainly respond in detail under our normal complaints procedures.

Our call handlers are dealing with a volume of calls far higher than experienced before the pandemic and there is a limit to how many staff we can physically accommodate to deal with calls. We are sorry if this sometimes makes them seem more abrupt and less empathetic than they would be if they could not see several other patients queued for response.

While we cannot comment very specifically on clinical issues here, it is of course a fact that bowel changes can readily occur in someone who is 68 and the tests to which the writer refers would be necessary to determine whether there was any cause for concern. We are confident that the GP's advice was intended to reassure the patient that the results of any investigation were more than likely to be benign. As the writer makes clear tests were already under way to determine the 'why'.

In clinical terms there is no 'physical assessment' that would assist materially in reaching a diagnosis. We do appreciate that psychologically a physical examination makes many patients feel better supported and that it would show more 'interest' in them as a patient but unfortunately we have to prioritise such appointments in favour of those who would benefit clinically. We do encourage patients to phone for tests results but, if those results showed an urgent need to contact the patient, we would do so without delay. We are sorry if this was not made clear to the writer and it does not mean that we are uninterested in our patients.

Where further tests are clinically appropriate, we would order them as a matter of course, rather than as an 'appeasement reaction'. In fairness to the majority of patients, we do try to avoid giving priority to those who shout loudest or believe that the response they receive is expedited when they place additional pressure on services.

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