"Choose Your Doctor carefully"

Staff at the Orchard Practice generally seem to do their best to provide a good service to their patients. Reception staff are always helpful and sympathetic. The GP's though seem to vary widely in their effectiveness.

There are range of doctors to choose from at this practice, but I find their levels of interpersonal skill vary widely from one practitioner to another. That has a real effect on patients getting good outcomes I feel. So I choose very carefully which doctor I book with. There is only one so far I have found I have complete trust in.

The other observation I would make - is that the online services the practice offers through Patient Access is inadequate - they don't offer the full range of online services. So no access to one's own medical records, or medication requests. Their system for dealing with registering prescriptions with online pharmacy suppliers is archaic. They cannot authorise electrically - they have to send a paper copy of the prescription by post. I also have to keep making appointments for repeat prescriptions - there doesn't seem to be procedures in place to make that automatic at the moment.

On the matter of which doctor to choose.

Given that patients often find it difficult to communicate their symptoms, anxieties and concerns effectively, having a doctor who doesn't for instance make eye contact, gives out a sense of 'being in a hurry' and doesn't fully engage the patient in the diagnostic process isn't as effective as they could be

Three of the doctors in this practice have for me fallen short of my expectations resulting in a serious misdiagnosis in one case, and another leaving me feeling that my concerns don't count.

One also didn't make the face to face referral I needed to see a dermatologist and didn't tell me they had made a fone consultation, which puzzled the consultant when i eventually did get to see them - as they needed to examine a skin disorder. How could they possibly do that over the fone? I do everything I can to avoid meeting those particular GP's.

However, one has excelled; they fully involving me in the decision making process for dealing with high cholesterol, getting me to go away and research the condition I had, and the adverse side effects of taking a particular medication. That resulted in us reaching a decision that a life style change might result in improved health - without the need to take further steps.

Between us we managed to get levels down so that I didn't need the medication.

That doctor is a new graduate fresh to the practice. So maybe its a matter of being up to date and not jaded. Shouldn't be that way though should it? I think some retraining is in order for some of the GP's.

Overall I find by carefully choosing who I go to see I get better service.

It is also useful to talk to reception staff face to face rather than over the fone