I wanted to take this opportunity to wish our patients and Happy Easter and I am also aware it is Ramadan too so please take care of yourself if you are fasting.
I write this on Tuesday 26th March 2024 having had a very unpleasant exchange with a patient this morning. I was also saddened to see the way our reception team are often spoken to, by patients and relatives who are not able to access an appointment when they ask for one.
I had a quick look through our appointment book for the dates Monday 25th March and Tuesday 26th March so just two days this week to see if we as a practice could be doing anything to make things easier for our patients and staff.
Whilst browsing the lists of patients booked into to see our team of health care professionals- this includes GP Partners, Salaried GP, Trainee GPs, Locum GP, Nurses, Health Care assistant, Dietician and our Mental Health Practitioner, I was absolutely shocked to see the number of wasted appointments across our system in only two days!
This included:
- telephone ring backs where the call was not answered- both book on the day and pre-bookable across many staff
- face to face appointments that were not attended
- long term condition checks that were not attended
- mental health appointments where the patient did not respond to calls.
I am aware it is school holidays, and everyone is busy. Sometimes we all forget things and life takes us over, but in total there were:
- 14 wasted appointments on Monday
- 21 Wasted appointments on Tuesday
I think, therefore, I would like to ask all our patients, to please reflect on the above before berating reception for not being able to book an appointment when you feel you need one.
A total of 35 appointments is the equivalent to over two whole GP surgeries of 15 patients each, wasted across the whole of our staff in only two days.
If you no longer need your appointment, please cancel it so we can offer it to someone else. Every wasted appointment costs the NHS time and Money and means it is harder for other patients to get access to us in a timely manner.
Thank you for reading, and reflecting on this and I hope everyone has a good Bank Holiday weekend and gets some time with family and friends or relaxing.