Care Opinion

Text size

Theme

Language

Videos in BSL or ISL
Help with language translation
Help with reading or listening

Don’t phone for a confirmed telephone appointment

Story from nhs.uk

"Don’t phone for a confirmed telephone appointment "

About: Woolstone Medical Centre

I filled in an Econsult and was told that I would be contacted by text or email and given a time that I would be phoned by the doctor. I didn’t receive either communication regarding the outcome and so phoned a couple of days before the stated phone time to check that I could consider this a confirmed telephone appointment. I was told that I could. I arranged annual leave from work for this appointment. Half an hour after this “confirmed” appointment I hadn’t been phoned but then got a text to say that I would be phoned the following day with a new time. I phoned the practice to ask about this and was told that I must have “misunderstood” the communication about the original time, even though I had phoned to confirm it. Of course I realise that circumstances dictate that appointment times might have to change at the last minute. But I do think, at the very least, that an apology and an acknowledgment that they had inconvenienced me would have been appropriate. This really didn’t feel like a very patient centred service. Perhaps it’s time to revert to initial face to face appointments.

More about:
nhs.uk logo
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Woolstone Medical Centre 3 years ago
Woolstone Medical Centre

Submitted on 01/04/2022 at 19:10
Published on nhs.uk on 02/04/2022 at 06:51

Dear Patient

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. The Practice takes all concerns raised by our patients seriously and we are sorry that you have been left disappointed with the service you have received recently.

As you will be aware, Covid-19 has put a tremendous strain on GP Practices and the NHS. To make sure that we continue to be able to remain open, we have over the last two years had to make changes to the way we run the surgery.

I am sorry that we were unable to keep to the first appointment that you had previously confirmed with us.

Sometimes we get little or no notice that a doctor or nurse will not be able to work on the day. All staff at the surgery continue to do LFT tests to check for Covid and if the result is positive, then they are unable to work. If their symptoms allow, they will work from home so as not to inconvenience patients that have been booked an appointment, but this is not always possible.

You are correct that we should have apologised for the change and any inconvenience and in this instance, I am sorry that this did not happen.

We offered telephone appointments to patients at a time when we were trying to limit the numbers of patients coming into the practice. This was a system that allowed the doctors to triage over the telephone and if medically appropriate, they could ask the patient to come to the surgery for a face to face consultation and examination.

We are now in April 2022 and I am pleased to say that we are now going to a more traditional set up for our appointments. We are reintroducing face to face appointments and a selection of appointments can be booked either online using Patient Access or via the telephone up to 28 days in advance.

We are still experiencing high volumes of calls from patients who may have put off calling the doctor. To those patients we would say, please bear with us while we get back to a new normal and make an appointment to see a doctor in the coming weeks.

If you are still unsatisfied with our service, I invite you to make an appointment to see me at the surgery to discuss so we can resolve the issues you have and learn from them.

Kind regards

Stuart Hall

Practice Manager

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k