"Awfully run."

Many thanks for your feedback. The practice does appreciate both positive and negative feedback as we use it as a learning tool.

I am sorry that you feel the appointment system is not suitable. The practice does offer both pre-bookable routine appointments and urgent on the day appointments. The routine appointments are in place to allow flexible access to both male and female appointments from 8:00am to 7:00pm on selected days for conditions that do not require urgent medical attention. The Urgent appointments are offered on the day for the conditions that the patients feel cannot wait for the next routine appointment.

We acknowledge that the wait for routine appointments can exceed 7 days – this is the case with the majority of GP Surgeries and reflects the increases in pressure on the NHS; the total number of consultations nationally has risen by 15% in the last five years alone. In an attempt to combat any struggles to get an on the day appointment this we offer a “standby for cancelled appointments” list whereby a patient who cannot get an on-the-day appointment can be placed on this list on the day and called to be offered an appointment in the event that a fellow patient contacts the practice to cancel their appointment. There are also other services we can direct you to whose main remit is on the day appointments.

We do encourage patients to cancel appointments they cannot attend, whether at the surgery with one of our support team workers or by telephone. We also offer the opportunity to cancel appointments via our text message system, by email or by using the online patient access service. We are also currently working on strategies to reduce the number of appointments that are not attended.

The practice also complies with NHS recommendation of offering a signposting service. A trained care navigator can signpost a patient to a number of local health care professionals and/or services that can help with the presenting condition.

I am also sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the private paperwork process but I feel that this is not a true representation of events. The practice cannot provide details re individual cases on NHS choices due to patient confidentiality concerns but if private work does take longer it is generally due to extenuating circumstances. I would like to reassure you that although it is not an NHS priority the practice does try to complete private paperwork in as timely a manner as NHS work pressures allow.