Patient Survey 2008 / 2009

The survey was undertaken in December 2008 and was completed by patients attending the surgery during that time.

The survey asked patients to rate us in a number of areas, giving us a score of poor, fair, good or very good.

The survey asked about the Practice (appointment times and availability, waiting room), the Practitioner, the Staff, Complaints / Compliments, Illness prevention, and reminder systems.

As a result of last years survey we have implemented the following:

• We have installed a new telephone system to gives us useful information that will help us to improve telephone access
• We have formed a Patient Participation Group to liaise with us on your behalf
• We have increased the use of online services to make book an appointment or requesting a repeat much easier
• We have changed the balance of appointments to give greater access within 48 hours
• We have extended our opening hours to provide extra appointments on Saturday and Monday mornings and also Monday evenings

Overall you have told us that you still receive an excellent level of care, however we need to make more improvements to our telephone and appointment systems in order make your patient experience a wholly satisfactory one.

What we’re doing right

The survey has shown us that we are continuing to provide a very good service in the following areas:

• Patients are satisfied with the respect shown to them by the Doctors and Nurses, and also with the confidence in their ability
• Patients are satisfied with their visit to the surgery
• We have improved in providing an appointment within 48 hours

Patients have commented on the following:

"The Practice provides excellent care for its patients often above and beyond what could be expected"

"Under the constraints of the health services, this practice cannot do more than it does"

"New patient but so far excellent"

"All the Doctors’ visits are excellent and the reception staff do a very good job in trying circumstances"

Where we can improve

The survey has also revealed a number of areas where the patients feel we could improve our service:

• Patients are not satisfied with being able to see the GP of their choice
• Patients are not satisfied with the availability of appointments
• Patients are not satisfied with telephoning the surgery
• The waiting rooms could be improved, with areas set aside for greater privacy and making them more modern and light

Patients have commented the following:

"On the whole I’m impressed with the service the Practice provides, but I always have difficulty in getting through by phone"

"All seems pretty good, apart from availability of appointments when you need / want them"

"More comfortable / modern waiting area"

"I would like to see my choice of doctor each time, mainly for continuity"

What we’re going to do

We have already identified the following:

• We will be using the statistics provided by our new phone system to monitor and change the way we deal with your calls to the surgery
• We will improve our waiting rooms and make information about our services more widely know
• We will encourage patients to make more use of our online services, such as being able to make appointments and request repeat prescriptions. We will provide a greater selection of appointments to be bookable online
• We will continually review the range of our appointment types we offer to try to find the best balance between emergency and advance booking
• We will look to see how we can give you better access to the GP of your choice

We always welcome feedback and ideas for how to improve the patient experience at the Practice. Please feel free to discuss your ideas with any member of staff or the Practice Manager, Rachel Arkieson.

A pdf copy of this information is available here