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Highs and lows

Story from nhs.uk

"Highs and lows"

About: Beacon Medical Group

I can't fault the care given by doctors and nurses I have seen. However the admin side of Beacon Medical Group is woefully inadequate for such a large practice. Inability to even get into a call queue when econsult is not practical is frustrating at best, impossible on occasion. Econsult when appropriate has worked well for me, although sometimes you have to lie to bypass the system when your answers are not black and white.

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Responses

Response from Beacon Medical Group nearly 2 years ago
Beacon Medical Group

Submitted on 04/07/2022 at 14:45
Published on nhs.uk on 05/07/2022 at 12:24

Thank you for taking the time to provide Beacon Medical Group with your feedback. We appreciate you doing this.

I am pleased to learn that you received good care when you have had consultations at Beacon Medical Group.

You have raised the point about using the eConsult online service. Beacon Medical Group introduced the total triage system in November 2019 and when patients provide information or have a query, this is passed to the most appropriate person. We do ask where possible that our patients use our online services as this frees up the telephone lines for those that are not able to do so.

Depending on the medical urgency, the patient will be contacted via telephone or video call within 48 hours and a call will be attempted on two separate occasions. If there is no response, a text message or email is issued to the patient to make them aware that calls have been attempted.

I can advise that eConsult is a national tool and was not designed by Beacon Medical Group. The information that the patient provides when submitting a query using eConsult will take them to a certain pathway. The system has been designed to direct the patient to contact 111 or 999 when certain responses are given as these are classed as red flags and require more of a medical emergency that a GP practice is able to provide for.

If you wish to provide eConsult with feedback, you contact them using the following address or alternatively look at their roadmap of proposed and up and coming changes:

https://econsult.net/contact-us

https://econsult.net/econsult-public-roadmap

I apologise that you have experienced a long wait whilst attempting to contact us. I can advise that on average Beacon Medical Group receives an average of over 700 calls a day which increases to over 1000 calls on average on a Monday. Our teams work hard to deal with this volume of calls and aim to provide the best possible customer service.

Thank you

Caroline Hayward

Patient Liaison and Communications Lead

Beacon Medical Group

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