You Said- We Did Posted or Updated on 11 Apr 2024

We had long waiting times to answer the phone

We are having a new phone system on the 12th April and are working through altering how we answer calls, options will be announced to you, to select the correct person to respond to your query, we will also share messages about other services that are now available to you, as you might not yet be aware of the changing provision at the practice.

We will have a “call back” facility so at times when we are busy you can select for us to ring you back when we are free, this stops you having to wait in long queues.

We will look at our telephone data and look at current ways of working to see if we can alter our workloads to respond more quickly to calls at our busiest times.

We are offering on-line consultations (admin and/or clinical queries) so you can raise your non-emergency queries with us and we will respond within two days to inform you how we can best manage your request, and when.

We have updated our website to let you know how best to contact us and how to access other services when we are closed.

We are now promoting Pharmacy First, where you can obtain help and advice for any of the following symptoms, so that you do not need to access primary care appointments, which will free up time for us to see more complex patients sooner.

We now encourage all patients on a repeat prescription to order their next repeat prescription on-line, this saves you having to contact us in person, which helps other patients to access our services more quickly. Please see our website for how to order your repeat prescription on-line.

We have started to send out self-booking links to patients for a varity of appointments including Long Term Condition reviews/routine vaccinations for adults and Health Checks to free up the telephone lines for those patients needing to speak to a receptionist.

You said you had to wait a long time to obtain an appointment

We have increased the number and range of clinicians that now provide services to our patients, and you can now access appointments with:

• Pharmacists – in house and via Pharmacy First
• Pharmacy technicians
• Physicians Associates
• Social Prescriber Link Workers
• Mental Health Practitioners

Please inform our staff when you contact us what your needs are so they will be able to co-ordinate your care and help direct you to the service that is most appropriate for your needs (or if not urgent, use our online consultation facility to register your request online). These clinicians are part of our team and are working to ensure your needs are being met by the most appropriate service.

We have enabled patients who are registered on the NHS App, or through our clinical software partner, to book a range of appointments directly.

We have worked with our local GP colleagues in our Primary Care Network to offer extended access clinic appointments to patients, these appointments are available via telephone consultations or face to face and are located here/in nearby sites. All the practices within our Primary Care Network are working together to help improve access for our patients. These appointments are available each evening/ on some evenings/ and on Saturdays.

We have shared information on our websites and noticeboards for the new Pharmacy First service, where these are provided by local pharmacies who are working to help support patients to access services locally or via telephone calls for range of conditions, noted below, our team can help refer you into this new service now.

You said when you saw a Clinician you were happy with the care and attention you received from them

We are working with our primary care colleagues within our Primary Care Network to sustain services locally, and when possible to do so, to increase services. Our largest change over recent years has been to increase the range and number of health care workers that you can now access appointments with, these include:

• Pharmacists including the new Pharmacy First Scheme
• Pharmacy technicians
• Physicians Associates
• Social Prescriber Link Workers
• Mental Health Practitioners

By including these new workers, your core primary care team remain available to see patients with complex health care needs/ with long term conditions/ to offer more local services to you, to meet the growing needs of our ageing population year on year.

You said that you do not always find it easy to use our practice website

We have been working with our website provider to make our website easier to navigate, please use the link below and take a look at it now to see what has changed.

www.foresthousesurgeryshepshed.co.uk/Home

We will be working with our Patient Participation group (PPG) to refresh the information we share with you on our website.

We share the results of our Friends and Family Test surveys on our website, call in screens and Facebook Page

Our Practice wants to confirm to our patients about the work we have been undertaking to help improve access to our services, and to help improve the service you receive when you make contact with us.

By listening to the results of patient survey feedback we aim to:

• Continue to review and improve access to services.
• Continue to review and modernise the telephone system/ make changes to our website information / increase the range and type of services that you can now access locally / help you to be more informed on where you can access health information.

We have a link onto our website for you to complete a “Friends and Family Survey” so you can feedback to us on whether you think the changes we have introduced are helping you to access services more easily.