Patient Satisfaction Survey 2007

The new flat screen TV in the waiting area has been very successful, and we intend to develop this further as an information resource, encouraging each professional group within the team to contribute presentations.
We have also had generally positive feedback on the new system of phoning local pharmacies rather than the practice to request repeat prescription renewal. Please make sure you phone in time to allow the practice 48 hours to deal with the request.
One of our lower scores, though still similar to the national average, related to how quickly patients could get to see a particular doctor of their choice. We recognise that there was a period last year where we were covering maternity and other leave and had to increase our use of locum doctors. In response to your feed back we aim to use fewer locum sessions in the coming year if possible, in the hope that this will improve availability.
In response to the score on how long patients wait to be seen when attending for their appointment, some of the GPs have already changed to longer times per appointment, so that they can run to time. This has helped the situation, and as more surgeries are changed in this way it is hoped that things will continue to improve.
Although the survey itself showed reasonable scores on phoning through to the practice, staff reported that there were a number of informal comments about difficulties in this area. As a result, we have been successful in securing an entirely new phone system which should be fitted within the next two months. This will hopefully allow much more efficient handling of incoming calls, so that patients do not have to queue for long even at busy times.
The doctors were very pleased that the scores they received for the care they provide were all high, and above the national average in all areas. Having used the GPAQ survey for several years however, it is recognised that it can only provide limited information in some areas, and the doctors are interested in trying an alternative questionnaire over the next year aimed at gathering different kinds of feedback in more detail. Your help in completing these when they are available would be much appreciated.