"Very poor"

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. Unfortunately you have submitted your comments anonymously, but should you wish to discuss any specifics please contact our Patient Services Manager.

There will be occasions when there is a long wait for the telephone to be answered as the number of inbound calls and/or complexity of the calls impacts on our ability to answer. However, by way of example, from the beginning of July to date our average wait time is 2 minutes 20 seconds, and is a statistic we keep a close eye on.

With regards to a 3 week wait for an appointment I am sure you will have read in the media there is a shortage of GPs and Crown Heights Medical Centre is not immune to this. As a result we have seen GP list sizes growing because more patients have to be spread across fewer GPs, resulting in longer waits to see the GP. We have been working to change the skill mix of the clinicians we employ with the objective of freeing up GP time. We now have a Paramedic, a Community Matron, 2 Nurse Practitioners and a Pharmacist as part of our team, and we continue to advertise for GPs to join the practice.

You should not be forced to wait for a telephone consultation which involves a 3-4 day wait, unless you want to wait for a specific GP. We offer a same day access clinic, which we do telephone triage first, for patients who have a problem requiring attention today. Another alternative is to use the e-consult option, which is on the home page of our web site.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention and please do not hesitate to contact our Patient Services Manager should you wish to discuss any specifics regarding your comments.