"Unhelpful / uncaring"

Dear Patient

Thank you for your feedback, we welcome all feedback so we can learn from this, all feedback is discussed at the surgery governance meeting.

Due to the winter pressures on the NHS, our surgery like all GP surgeries are extremely busy.

We have referral protocol and pathways to follow, urgent referral are done on the same day, non-urgent referrals are done within 48 hours of being received, however we do try to help patients in any way we can regarding sorting any problems that are not urgent but cannot wait for 48 hour timeline process.

Every patient with a query is put on a same day triage system, this is to ensure any queries all dealt with on the same day, this includes any referral queries.

On occasion patients will need to be seen or receive a call back from a clinician in regards to the query, this system ensures clinical decisions are made with the patient, a clinician did contact you regarding this referral, unfortunately it was not possible complete a referral in four hours, the Doctors are in clinics until mid-day, followed by emergency visits, the referral would have processed later in the day, this was also explained to you by the receptionist and the clinician. The response given was “don’t bother, I am moving practices.

A referral is never refused if clinically appropriate or if advised by the Consultant. This referral was not refused at any point; we just could not meet your expectations on this occasion. We do care very much for our patients and try to help whenever possible.

A meeting was offered with the Practice Manager and the Doctor to discuss the matter, this offer was declined