In September 2012 we conducted another review of our patients’ views on how we do as a practice by asking the patients who we see to give us their views in a confidential questionnaire- you may remember filling one out yourself! Each response was collected together and the total was compared to the ‘benchmark’- what would be expected from practices across the country. Below we present the results of the surgeries and how it compares to the rest of the country.

Here’s what you thought:

Satisfaction with receptionists                      

Our receptionists have a very difficult job, trying to satisfy the needs of our patients with a limited number of appointments and time. We really appreciate the positive feedback they get through cards and gifts. We can all make mistakes and unfortunately not be able to meet every request and so we also appreciate feedback you give us on how we can improve the service, but it seems satisfaction with our team is in line with the rest of the country, although it would be nice to get even higher scores!

Satisfaction with opening hours                                   

Our two surgeries are regularly open beyond the contractual 08:30-18:30 hours, and should you need one of our extended opening hours slots then please enquire with reception staff as to their availability.

Satisfaction with availability of particular Dr     

This is where we struggle- staffing two sites means the doctors aren’t going to be available at one site all of the week, unfortunately we can’t be in both places at the same time, and this seems to be behind this result. When having a little bit longer to wait for a specific Doctor, we hope that wait is worth it for you.

 Satisfaction with the availability of any Dr                        

Again, not quite the score we want to achieve as space is very limited at Horseley Heath in particular, with only 5 consulting rooms. We also use our rooms for nursing staff, our nurse practitioner, health care assistants, health trainers, midwives and citizen’s advice throughout each month.

Satisfaction with waiting times at the practice          

Waiting is never much fun and we appreciate it can be frustrating if you need to wait. Our average waiting times for doctors is between 6-20 minutes across the whole morning or evening surgery, but if you need to have slightly more than your 10 minute slot then we have to accommodate that and run late as a result. Overall it looks as if we are doing better than the rest of the country and sometimes patients are seen earlier than their slot if the doctor is running ahead!

Satisfaction with phoning through to the practice          

This is a big improvement on previous years and seems to reflect the new phone system allowing more lines for incoming calls. At busy times there may be a queue and we can get extra staff to deal with the greater number of calls but it appears we are performing significantly better than the average of the rest of the country. Our surgery number is charged at a local rate, not a premium rate.

Satisfaction with phoning through to Dr for advice         

Again this seems to be an area where we perform significantly better than the rest of the country. We’re not always able to put you through to the Dr in the middle of a surgery, but if you think your problem may be able to be sorted with a chat over the phone to one of the doctors, we can call you back at the end of surgery. If the doctor feels that you need to be seen in person then we can get an appointment arranged.

Please ask our receptionists for a Telephone Consultation with the doctor.

Satisfaction with continuity of care                                    

We believe this also reflects the staffing across two surgeries, which means you may have difficulty with the availability of a particular doctor, although satisfaction with continuity is higher than satisfaction with availability, so our team are able to continue your care if the particular Dr is unavailable.

Your experience with the Doctor

These questions concern your opinion on how you feel your time with the Doctor went, again compared to the benchmark score.

As you can see, the scores show higher-than-benchmark across all questions. Respondents seem to appreciate the time spent with our Doctor, and it is good to know the wait for the appointment is felt to be worth it. Thankyou for your honesty and appreciation.

Of course what the questionnaire doesn’t review is how you feel we perform when you see our other non-doctor clinical staff, so if you do have any feedback we would love to hear from you.