Constable Country Rural Medical Practice

Reply from Constable Country Rural Medical Practice
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:35:56 Z

Thank you for your feedback. We try to achieve a good balance of appointments and consider patient feedback. Currently we have a limited number of pre-bookable appointments and reserve the majority to be booked on the day. If a doctor needs to see a patient for a follow up appointment, they will book the appointment themselves. Based on feedback we have received, this meets the needs of the majority pf patients. However, we are aware that this system can be too restrictive for some patients and hence we have a degree of flexibility. The reception team can ask for future appointments to be opened up to accommodate patients who find it difficult to get to the practice for various reasons. However, we are constantly reviewing our system and we will consider your feedback. Note that on busy morning we can have anything up to 45 patients waiting in the phone queue. This is normal for a practice our size. We have up to 6 receptionists answering the phones and generally calls progress through the queue quite quickly. If patients phone later in the morning they will get through to a receptionist quicker and they will always be able to speak to a doctor the same day if they need to. We are sorry that our clinicians sometimes run late. Our appointment are 10 minutes duration, in line with most other practices, but when patients present with complex problems it can often take more than 10 minutes to fully address their problem. When our clinicians run late we try to keep patients informed. Our clinicians are very aware of their patients who are waiting, as they are highlighted on our medical system, but some problems, in particular mental health, can require longer to ensure the patients receives the advice they need. With regard to financial interests in the surgery, you are correct the we have 4 GP partners who have a financial interest in the practice. We have statement on display in the waiting rooms to that effect. GP practices are generally operated as a ‘partnership’, in a similar way to law firms. We have multiple contracts with the NHS to deliver service to ensure all our patients receive the care and treatment they need. Our priority is always to ensure we have sufficient, well-trained clinical and non-clinical staff to deliver a high standard of service and we are monitored by a number of organisations to ensure that we do so. If you have encountered a specific issue or wish to complain about either the service provided or any of the staff you have had contact with, please contact the practice manager with your details. Without knowing your details it is not possible to respond to any specific problems you have encountered.