YOUR COMMENTS & QUESTIONS THUS FAR INCLUDE:
Q: Can we have more prebookable GP appointments
A: Starting in May 2023 we have opened many more prebookable GP appointments. We have also opened up Engage Consult, an online tool on our website that accepts a limited number of non-urgent medical and administrative enquiries as an alternative to calling us. By having more appointments available in advance, it affects the number of appointments we are able to offer on the day. We balance the availabilty as best we are able according to the number of clinical team members available on any particular day.
Q: Can we have more phone lines?
A1: Our new phone system has unlimited lines. We have as many staff as we are able, available to answer the phones in the morning. This number varies day to day according to sickness and holidays so sometimes it will take longer to answer than other times. We are limited by desk space and costs and have recruited the maximum team capacity that we are able.
A2: Since May 2023 we have had an alternative online route to contact us for non-urgent clinical and administrative enquiries called Engage Consult. Patients are able to register with this service and send us queries online or via the NHS App. This is an alternative to the telephone and not for 'additional' work as it is not safe or feasible for us to work above our daily safety limits. These queries will be triaged in the same way as telephone calls and will be allocated to the relevant team for response as with our telephone queries.
A3: As an example of the improvements to the phone system, during October 2023, people choosing to use the call-back feature on the phone system collectively saved 550 hours of time by using the virtual queue and not needing to wait on the phone.
Q: Can we chase hospital appointments / surgery dates more
A: Unfortunately there is very little that we can done once we have made a referral into the hospital system. The best option for patients is to contact the hospital directly. We have no additional power to bring appointments forward and we do not have enough staff to make calls on behalf of patients for this.
Q: Why can't we have more prebookable GP appointments?
A: We have many more prebookable GP appointments on our diary. These do fill very rapidly however, and we are limited in our capacity to provide more as this affects how many urgent appointments we can provide. There is a limit to the number of safe interactions our clinicans can support each day. No one wants a tired clinician to make an error. We review each day in the diary to try to balance out the number of pre-bookable and on-the-day appointments according to the number of clinicians working that day.
