From the 4th September our appointment system will be changing to address some of the issues that patients have been raising with us with the difficulties accessing appointments.
We have looked at all feedback from our registered patients. Visited other practices from outside of Stockport who have found ways to manage the unprecedented patient demand for appointments.
Changes we have made:
- Increased Daily Capacity – We have created a hub of clinicians who will work together to triage all online form request received daily. Receptions can support any patients who do not have online access. Patient can telephone as normal.
- Extended Online Form Availability – The online form will remain open for longer each day. We are aiming on having the form open between 8 am to 3 pm daily. * Closure times may vary if safe working limits have been reached*
- Avoid the 8 am rush – Removing the need to call/submit an online form at 8 am. There will be appointments available for urgent same day and routine advance bookings throughout the day.
- Self Book Routine Appointments – Reviewed requests that do not need a same day appointment will receive a text update and a self book link, inviting patient to book either a telephone or face to face appointment in advance. The patient can choose a convenient appointment to suit their schedule.
- NHS App – All patients will be encouraged to register for the NHS app as this will give 24/7 access to ordering your repeat prescriptions, viewing booked appointments and viewing your medical records.
- Same Day Urgent Care– The system ensures that patients needing urgent same day care will have access to support. The requests will be reviewed by the clinician and the patient will then be telephoned or seen on the same day.
- Evening and Saturday Appointments – We are making more appointments available with GP’s, Nurses and Health Care Assistants.
- Partnership Working with External providers – We are working closely with other provides to enable services to be delivered from our buildings to help prevent our patients having to travel. Examples Diabetic Eye Screening and Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening clinics.
We accept that the improvements will be subject to review and change after we go live with the system. We welcome all feedback on the changes.
Below are the highlights from the national GP survey for 2023. It is based on only 122 patients of which we have 18000. The areas we are lower than the national results, we are hoping the above changes will help to improve patients experience.
We will be sending our own practice survey to patients who have used the new system and look to see if improvements in patient experience have been made.
