Patient Survey Results

Our first online survey has given the following results;

Question 1
This asked about difficulties with contacting the surgery by phone, making urgent, routine and telephone consultations with GP's and practice nurses.

This gave quite positive results with approx. 40% of patients surveyed denying any particular problems with any of the above.

However, the main problem areas appear to be regarding making routine appointments, with 23% of patients surveyed reporting a problem.

A smaller proportion of patients surveyed (15%) expressed problems getting through to reception on the phone and when making routine appointments with their chosen GP.

Comment
The practice is trying hard to improve the availability of routine appointments - we have recently taken on a new doctor (Dr Hunter) and in addition have been trialling a new system of appointments on Mondays, with more appointments available to book on the day.

We are also trying to reduce the pressure on GP appointments by ensuring routine reviews are dealt with by the practice nurses or via telephone consultations wherever possible. Please check whether a GP appointment is still necessary if you have already seen a practice nurse for review.

Despite the pressure on appointments, there are still a significant number of patients who do not turn up for appointments without cancelling or only cancel at the last minute. This puts added strain on the appointment system - patients who do this repeatedly may be asked to leave the practice.

There are certain times when the phone lines are particularly busy - ie. from 8-10am every morning. You can help by ringing later in the day for routine results, queries and to make/cancel routine appointments.

Question 2 & 3
This asked about patient preference for appointment times.

33% of patients expressed a preference for early morning appointments (before 9am) with a further 40% of patients expressing a preference for morning appointments (after 9am). 22% of patients expressed difficulty in making an appointment at a convenient time, the remaining 45% reporting this as neither easy or difficult.

Comment
This reflects the range of appointments offered, with more morning appointments available compared with afternoon or evening appointments. The practice tries to accommodate people who are working by offering early and late appointments, although as there are of limited supply, these generally need to be booked in advance.

Question 4
This looked at how patients perceived the new system of book on day appointments on Mondays.

Generally, this idea was received postively with the majority of patients surveyed thinking this was a good idea. There were some reservations around this reducing the number of pre-bookable appointments.

Comment
Although the practice accepts that this system does reduce the number of pre-bookable appointments, it also recognises that patients are not always happy to wait up to 2 weeks for a routine appointment. There are many problems which although not requiring an emergency appointment, do need to be seen withing afew days. We are thereby adapting the Monday system to allow some pre-bookable appointments but still with an increased number of book on day appointments.

Question 5&6
This asked patient's views regarding the practice website (www.parkviewgrouppractice.co.uk)

The majority of patient's surveyed had not looked at the practice website so were unable to comment.

Comment
The practice is working to update the website and make it into a useful resource - all comments on how to improve it are welcome.

Question 7&8
This asked about what improvements the practice could make particularly with offering alternative methods of contacting the practice and access to appointments.

Of the various suggestions, patients surveyed expressed interest particularly in requesting prescriptions either by email or online as well as making/cancelling appointments online.

Comments
The practice is awaiting an update to it's computer system which will hopefully make these advances possible within the next few months. By introducing these new systems, the practice hopes to ease pressure on the phones and improve convenience for patients.

We are also making more use of mobile phone text messages, so you can help by making sure we have up to date contact information for you.

If you are interested in taking part in future surveys, perhaps you might like to join our Patient Representative Group.