"More blood tests would be better"

Thank you for this posting, we have had some discussion about how we may increase access to blood tests and feel as an option for our service users we to try to co-ordinate blood tests with your doctors appointment. This means that you can arrange to see the doctor for your prescription and while you are there also have your bloods done avoiding the need for two appointments. We hope this will help make it easier and more convienent for service users to get there bloods done.

We've received a number of postings which comment on waiting times so we wanted to reply in a way that let everyone know what we were doing to improve this. The postings such as yours have really made us realise exactly what the issues were for service users and how to move forward.

We try at Guernsey House to offer a service that is sympathetic to the challenges that face our service users and know that sometimes it is difficult to get to appointments on time and sometimes they can be missed. When this happens we still want to make time for these people as quickly as we can. This can have a knock on effect on the rest of the clinic and can increase waiting times but we feel it is important to keep people in treatment and hope that you understand why this is necessary.

In light of this, there may be very little scope for improving waiting times but what we think we could do better is communicate with you what is happening in the clinic at any one time. We're trying to make sure people know if the clinic is running late and by how much so that you know where you are and how long a wait to expect. At first we intend to do this through the reception staff so that you can plan around any delay and know we have not forgotten you are here.

We are also planning to install digital signs in the waiting room so that at a glance you can see when you will be seen by a doctor. We have also put some information in the waiting room to explain what is happening after you have seen the doctor and are waiting for your prescription.

We hope you find this information useful, please post again and let us know what you think of the changes we have made. Thank you very much for bringing your concerns to our attention because it has allowed us to make changes that we think will benefit everyone.