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Appointment system geared towards those not at...

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"Appointment system geared towards those not at..."

About: The Dove Medical Practice

There has to be a better appointment system for a modern 21st century group practice as the current one is chaos. Full time working individuals are limited with the 9-5 appointment slots that are available. The phoning in at 8am to book an appointment is horrendous. Usually in a very lengthy all queue only to be told at 08.30 when you finally get through that there are no appointments and to try again the following day- the process is repeated the following day. Many workers who like myself who start work at 8am and who do not have lenient managers who allow you to sit waiting in a call queue can find this entire telephone appointment system prohibitive. The longest that I have waited in said same queue was 45 minutes a couple of months ago and I literally break out in a cold sweat now when I know that I have to phone to speak to a doctor about 2 medicines that I cannot get on a repeat prescription. The staff are all lovely and all extremely hard working and I know that those receptionists have an awful lot of grief given to them by some not very nice patients but the appointment system needs to go as it’s archaic and doesn’t work in a modern NHS

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Responses

Response from The Dove Medical Practice 5 years ago
The Dove Medical Practice

Submitted on 04/12/2018 at 08:41
Published on nhs.uk at 11:33

Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback.

First of all, we would like to address your concerns regarding the appointment system. Please be aware that we are constantly looking at new ways to improve the system. We understand that the appointment system does not work for everybody and we are always looking for suggestions to help improve access for our patients.

We apologise that you have found it difficult to get through on the phone. We do realise that the phone lines can be very busy in the morning and we do try to have as many staff members as possible answering the calls to minimise your wait time. We also offer online access to book your appointments which may save you time waiting on the telephone.

We also now offer a walk-in service on a Friday morning whereby you can arrive at the surgery before 10.30am and you will be seen by a doctor on the same morning. There may be a wait but we feel that the service is improving access for patients who have been unable to get an appointment and it has so far received very good feedback.

We have also joined the extended access programme in the Kingstanding area. We now offer GP appointments between 6.30pm and 8.00pm on weekdays and 10am to 1pm at weekends. These appointments are available at the Oaks Medical Practice in Great Barr. This is a great choice for working people who are unable to attend the surgery during the day. These appointments are available to book in advance. Please ask reception for more information.

We hope that these changes will improve the service that you receive. We do acknowledge the difficulties that you have been having.

We really appreciate your comments regarding all our staff members being lovely and hard working. This is a really positive comment and we will make sure that this is shared amongst the team.

If you would like to discuss your concerns in further detail, we would be grateful if you could contact the practice manager to discuss this further.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback.

Dove Medical Practice

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