INHOUSE PATIENT SURVEY RESULTS SEPTEMBER 2021:
Thank you to everyone who completed the questionnaire for us! Please read below to see what it revealed:
62% find it fairly to very easy to get through to the practice, but only 41.8% of patients had tried the call back option. This may be why some patients are still finding it difficult to get through to the practice as they are holding on still. Although slightly higher than the patient survey it is still below the national and CCG average.
41.7% of patients stated that call back wasn’t offered. This option kicks in at 10+ callers in the queue, some of the patients answering the questionnaire may have not have been number 10+ in the queue or they missed the option when it was offered on the phone? We will advise reception to inform patients that this is an option as well as the other options available to book an appointment at the surgery i.e. online, online consult, pharmacy etc. It is worth noting that 16.5% didn’t trust it to work either therefore, we should try to reassure patients that it is a reliable service and their position in the queue isn’t lost.
We asked patients if they are aware of alternative ways of getting medical advice as if they are not, this could not only lead to better patient understanding of how to manage their health conditions and better care overall but also reduce the number of patients calling us and therefore reducing patient demand in accessing the practice: 61.2% of patients are aware of alternative ways to seek medical advice which is a promising number but room for improvement. Our call queueing messages provide information and we will ask receptionists to signpost accordingly before automatically booking an appointment with the GP. We will make GPs aware as well so that they can educate patients and we will make more information available on our website regarding alternative services as well.
Further to this we enquired as to how many patients are also aware of the extended hours and 7 day access services – 73.2% of patients are aware of these services which is again high but a few patients were either not able to book an appointment due to availability or just preferred to see a GP at this practice.
In this survey we received positive results regarding reception helpfulness. 86.9% believed our receptionist to be helpful or did their best, which is higher than the GP patient survey including CCG average but not National average. 5.9% of patients felt they were impolite, 2.4% said their query was not dealt with and they didn’t try to find answers and 5.9% were not called back when they were told they would be. Further comments made included staff are not helpful, they didn’t signpost or listen, they were rude and did not call back. We asked these questions to see where training may be needed to improve patient experience. It seems that the reception communication course staff attended earlier in the year has been effective overall and we will mention the results and comments in the next practice meeting for reflection and to ensure that we follow through with patient queries and even if we cannot meet patients’ expectations that we offer explanations and alternatives are offered.
78.8% of patients were satisfied with the appointment they were offered. This is slightly higher than the National Survey but still lower than the national average. Reasons for not being satisfied included 3.5% were offered an alternative to a GP which is the clinician they wanted to see. 3.5% couldn’t see their preferred GP. 5.9% wanted a specific time which was not available and 9.4% wanted a face to face appointment but had to have a telephone appointment. With trying to signpost patients to relevant services it takes time for patients to learn and trust that they don’t have to see a GP for everything – staff should take the time to explain why their condition can be dealt with by someone other than a GP which may increase appointment satisfaction in future. We can only offer preferred GP to a certain extent, eventually they will become fully booked but to remind patients they can look for advanced appointments online or book next day on line to save them queueing on the phones and also explain that other clinicians can help them as well as they will have access to the preferred GPs previous consultations. We are still living with COVID and therefore we have to have some restrictions to protect patients and staff however, face to face appointments will always be offered after the initial telephone consultation with GP if it is required. Further to this we now automatically book appointments face to face for lumps and bumps, ear problems and abdominal complaints as these are best reviewed face to face and therefore would be a waste to book as a telephone appointment in the first instance. We will remind staff to inform patients of why we are not offering face to face for everything and not just saying ‘no they can’t’. By taking the time for explanations it gives the patient understanding and therefore they should hopefully be more satisfied with the appointment offered.
77.8% of patients were given a timeframe for the telephone appointment which is good, however it is lower than the patient survey. We should try to be more uniform and consistent in offering appointment times which will be discussed in our next meeting.
Overall experience of the practice returned 84.7% good or great responses compared to the national patient survey at 75% which is a great improvement. Areas patients are not so happy with include encounters with receptionists at 4.7% / clinicians at 2.4% / appointment system at 5.2% / telephone system at 1.3%.
To further understand why patients felt they were not treated with care or concern or felt that they were not involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment and not having the confidence in the clinicians they saw as well not being listened to with enough time and not recognising and understanding mental health needs, we asked patients to give examples on what we could do to improve this. However, we did not receive many comments. Comments we did receive included:
- if time allows, to read through patient notes prior to seeing them
- See patients on time whether it is face to face, telephone or video
- They need to improve a lot, they don’t speak politely and not empathetic, they should be understanding and friendly
- The blended appointment system offers patients a choice and signposting directs patients to best care at the time needed
- I think they do a good job but can improve on accessibility/availability
- Nurse/HCN was extremely professional, knowledgeable, patient and efficient, very attentive and expert medical appointment
These will be discussed in our next practice meeting.
Patients were asked if there was anything further they wanted to bring to our attention, again responses were ow but included the following:
- Telephone queueing is long should be 2 numbers one for appointments one for queries
- I was number 3 in the queue for 20 mins but was able to get a face to face appointment at last – the receptionist was very helpful
- Tell the receptionists to stop being rude and so much attitude
- Should be easy for patients who don’t speak English
- I was told I would be called at a certain time but was called 2 hours later, as a carer I have other things I need to do without having to rebook appointments
- There are problems with the chemist I have to keep going backwards and forwards
- Very good service I have been registered for over 20 years, always helpful
- We are treated like 3rd class objects, receptionists behaviour ‘should be’ educated and well-mannered rather than rude and illiterate
These points will be discussed at the practice meeting also. These points can also be brought up with our PPG, and maybe target different population groups to gain their experiences to see where improvements can be made i.e. over 65s, carers, Diabetics etc.
GP PATIENT SURVEY RESULTS 2021:
The results to the GP Patient Survey 2021 have just been published. 516 questionnaires were sent out between January 2021 and March 2021, and 115 were returned. Please click on the link for detailed access to the results; https://gp-patient.co.uk/report?w=1&practicecode=F84050
The overview for our practice shows that compared to the CCG and National averages, our patients feel:
– they have had enough support from local services or organisations in the last 12 months to help manage their long-term condition(s)
– they usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to
– the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern during their last general practice appointment.
However, our patients do not feel:
– that the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them during their last appointment.
– happy with the appointment they were offered
– that it is difficult to get through to us via the phone.
In regards to the telephones, we start booking appointments for the next working day at 10am and therefore we will inevitably experience a high volume of calls at this time.
Previously, to try to relieve the pressure:
– we increased the number of staff answering calls at this time
– added all of our next working day GP appointments online so that instead of calling the practice, patients could go online via Patient Access to book an appointment.
– we also tried to sign post patients to the pharmacy in the first instance for minor ailments as the pharmacists are trained to deal with many medical conditions and can recommend over the counter treatments but they also know when a medical condition needs to be presented to a GP.
– we introduced Online Consult which allows all patients, regardless of whether they have online access or not, to send their medical complaint to us online, where we review and action within 48 working hours.
– we introduced a call queuing system on our lines which informed patients of where they were in the queue and relayed messages to patients while they waited.
Despite this, the recent patient survey, still reported that patients find it difficult to get through to us by phone; only 60% of you find it fairly to very easy to get through us, which is below the CCG and National averages; 64% and 68% respectively.
As we were tied into a phone contract, we could not change our telephone system until recently. The new system was implemented in the middle of June which has allowed for further improvements:
• More patients can be held in the queue without being cut off
• When in the queue, at certain points, patients will be offered a call back service. This allows you to hang up your phone and when your position in the queue reduces you will be called back. Your position in the queue will not change, you just don’t need to stay on the phone while you wait!
• We have clear access to when our phones are busiest, allowing us to audit when we need more phone cover.
Hopefully these changes will make it easier for patients to get through to us?!
To try to dig deeper into where we can improve, we created another survey for patients to complete. It was based on the Patient Survey, but hopefully will give us clearer answers/areas as to where we can improve.
Further to the National GP Patient Survey from July 2020,
Please see attached our Action Plan resulting from the National Patient Survey. 19% of surveys were returned and have brought to our attention areas that need to be addressed. Although we are disappointed in the results, we welcome and need patient feedback to help improve our services. We hope our Action Plan addresses the concerns highlighted.
We have engaged our staff and PPG and would like to hear any ideas or suggestions you may have in regards to the Action Plan or any other suggestions to improve our services, please contact the practice and speak with our Reception Supervisor.
NPS 2020 Action Plan
Please follow this link to See how your GP practice is doing or compared to other practices
Friend and Family report March 19 – March 20
Total responses from March 2019 – March 2020: 1012
Percentage extremely likely: 18%
Percentage likely: 20%
Percentage neither: 8%
Percentage unlikely: 6%
Percentage extremely unlikely: 3%
Percentage don’t know: 45%
Overview:
Looking at the results from Friends & Family report we have combined extremely likely and likely results together and divided them by all the patients, we excluded patients who scored don’t know: 385/559×100. In conclusion 69% of patients would recommend Boleyn Medical Centre to their friends and family compared to 31% who wouldn’t (neither, unlikely and extremely unlikely). The above mentioned would suggest that as a surgery we are operating a good level of service to our patients.
Patient Survey Regarding Telephone Access February 2020
Following the changes we have made to our telephone system in January 2020, when we have added additional lines and a queuing system. We were keen to find out if our patients were satisfied with the changes and the improved telephone access.
Considering the above we created a patient survey which was handed out to patients directly over a period of 1 week during February 2020. We received 100 questionnaires back.
Patients was asked to rate from 1 – 5, where 5 was excellent.
The following shows the outcome of the survey in percentage:
- How do you rate how easy it is to get through on the telephone to the practice?
1 – 9% 2 – 13% 3 – 25% 4 – 22% 5 – 31%
- How do you rate the length of time you wait for your call to be answered by the practice?
1 – 11% 2 – 19% 3 – 20% 4 – 22% 5 – 28%
- Do you think that the new queuing phone system is helpful?
Yes – 76% No – 24%
- How do you rate how easy it is to get an appointment by calling the practice?
1 – 18% 2 – 7% 3 – 29% 4 – 20% 5 – 26%
- Are you signed up for online access?
Yes – 56% No – 44%
- If No, would you like to be signed up for online access?
Yes – 72% No – 28%
OTHER COMMENTS:
- What’s the point in a queuing system?
- Long waiting times.
- Phones are always busy, the receptionist are loud and not everyone talks nice when answering the phones.
- Good GP surgery but the appointment process could be faster.
- Getting appointments is not easy.
- The appointment system is very good, I always will get appointments when I try over the phone.
- Surgery could benefit with more appointments if they have enough GPs to do so.
- Every time I call the surgery it ends up with me being disconnected.
- The phone system is new it seems so much better and the queue is very helpful.
In conclusion, the survey shows that most of our patients are happy with the new phone queuing system and with the access of booking appointments over the phone.
With all of the questions asked, the majority of patients scored us between 3 and 5.
Majority of patients who completed the questionnaire have given us their details. The patients who are not signed up to Patient Online access will be contacted by the Practice administrator and explained how to sign up to online access, alternatively patients will be offered to come in to the Surgery where one of the staff members will be able to go assistant them in the signing up process.
YOU SAID – WE DID
Further to the internal patient survey from February 2020,
regarding our updated telephone system YOU have left following comments:
We replied:
- What’s the point in a queuing system?
- The queuing system has been introduced so patients are always aware of where they are in the queue and gain important information while waiting on the phone about immunisations/ smears etc.
- Phones are always busy, the receptionist is loud and not everyone talks nice when answering the phones.
- We appreciate that phone lines are very busy therefore we advertise online booking system, we also recently introduced online triage where a patient can get advice and book an appointment 24/7.
- Receptionists are also to receive regular training on customer service and any patient comments are discussed at Practice meetings as a learning point.
- Good GP surgery but the appointment process could be faster.
- We are pleased that patients are happy with our Practice and we constantly trying to better our service. We seek feedback from our Patient Participation Group (PPG) and we also recently introduced online triage where a patient can get advice and book an appointment 24/7.
- Getting appointments is not easy.
- We appointed a designated member of staff who will hold learning sessions for patients who need help with registering and use of online access. There will be separate sessions for patients over 65 years old and under 65 years old.
- The appointment system is very good; I always will get appointments when I try over the phone.
- Great to hear that patients are happy with the service we are providing.
- Surgery could benefit from more appointments if they have enough GPs to do so.
- We are currently in discussion with a doctor who is keen to work from home. We are hoping to have telephone consultations set up by the end of May and utilise them to offer additional appointments to our patients.
- The phone system is new it seems so much better and the queue is very helpful.
- We are very pleased to hear that our updated system is working for our patients. We are constantly trying to better our service and hoping that online which was recently introduced will be a success.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR FEEDBACK
Results and Action from the patient survey from September 2019
Please see the links below.
NATIONAL-GP-PATIENT-SURVEY.-YOU-SAID-–-WE-DID
INTERNAL-PATIENT-SURVEY-YOU-SAID-–-WE-DID
Click the link below to view our latest results.
https://gp-patient.co.uk/report?practicecode=F84050
IN HOUSE PATIENT QUESTIONNAIRE (December 2019)
We developed a questionnaire to try to find out if our patients are aware of how to get medical advice and the different ways to book appointments to see a GP, but to also consider new ways of offering appointments.
Our findings showed that less patients are aware of the Extended Hours and the 7 Day Access Services that offer evening and weekend appointments at local surgeries in the area. We therefore need to advertise this more to our patients. The questionnaire also revealed that not everyone is aware of booking appointments online and that appointments can be booked in advance. More information about this can be found on the website on our appointments page.
Patients who completed the questionnaire were aware of the minor ailment scheme – being able to get medical advice and treatment from your local pharmacy, of our walk in clinic Mondays-Fridays mornings and of calling at 10am to book appointments for the next working day.
In this questionnaire, we asked if patients were able to speak to a GP urgently on the same day, most people could, but the questionnaire highlighted that we need to consider having more GP appointments and so the Practice is looking into adding more appointments on a weekly basis.
We also asked if telephone consultations would be preferred for discussing test results, whether we should have a clinician screen appointment reasons before booking appointments and whether opening some walk in appointments online the night before could be an option. Results were not conclusive on any of these and so they were discussed in a clinical meeting.
It was decided that we would consider telephone consultations in the future, we would open the walk in clinic earlier and we would not screen appointments at this time.
Due to the amount of responses received, it also suggested that carrying out another survey later in the year may be beneficial, to get a better understanding of patient awareness and hopefully to see if any of the changes made have improved patient awareness and accessibility to our services.
