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Caring doctors at Birley Health Centre

Posted By selinajane

"Caring doctors at Birley Health Centre"

About: Birley Health Centre

(as the patient),

I have found it is not always easy to see the doctor you want to make an appointment to see as most of the doctors at the surgery only work part-time, which I feel does not make for good continuity of patient care having to see one doctor and another. I firmly belive it is very important to see the same doctor each time you need an appointment as the doctor gets to know your medical history very well and gets to know you which helps to build up a good patient doctor relationship. I do appreciate doctors go on holiday and can be ill and therefore not at work and if an urgent appointment is needed there is always a doctor who will see a patient.

I also feel doctors who has had years of experience of looking after patients with varying medical problems at a surgery is what is needed for patients such as myself who have got a chequered medical history. I know all doctors are fully qualified and have gone through a lot of training in order to qualify and have to start somewhere but I also think it is very important for doctors to have hands on experience of working in a surgery as qualified gp.

I have found the receptionists at the surgery very helpful but, if there is not an appointment to see particular doctor a patient wants to see it is not the receptionists fault and patients should not be rude to them as they are just doing a job.

One final thing, they are some very good caring doctors at the surgery.

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Responses

Response from Birley Health Centre 12 years ago
Birley Health Centre

Submitted on 28/10/2011 at 14:21
Published on Care Opinion on 31/10/2011 at 08:52

Thanks for your very thoughtful opinion. You are right that continuity is very important, whether it is for someone with ongoing, long term problems, or for someone usually healthy but going through a difficult patch. We try to achieve this by offering pre-booked appointments, so that people without urgent problems can see the doctor or nurse they know; we also offer same day appointments, the intention being that people can be seen on the day they ask to, but not necessarily by “their” doctor.

None of the GPs are in the practice every day. However the reasons for not being here are very much to do with working on related areas. GPs at Birley are involved in teaching medical students and junior doctors, child protection, sports medicine, working at the GP collaborative out of hours service and in the new world of commissioning. The experiences and knowledge we gain doing this work feed into the services we provide at Birley, meaning we never miss an opportunity to take up new services for patients.

With long term conditions we are striving to take the routine aspects, such as taking blood or checking blood pressure, out of the GP or nurse consultation, so that more time can be spent listening to you and working out what to do next. This may make it seem fragmented, but that is not the intention.

We are starting a virtual patient group - if you would be interested please email: susanbreeze@nhs.net

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