Enter and View: Ashfield Medical Centre
The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with patients, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience being a patient of the Ashfield Medical Centre.
Summary
Demographics of those we spoke to:
Male: 2, Female: 11, chose not to respond: 19
The age range of patients spoken to:
- 6 were under 16
- 6 were aged between 18 – 65
- 2 were aged over 65, and 18 people preferred not to say
What we found
"Patients told us that the on-line system for appointments was out of service...The biggest issue for the patients we spoke to was with the telephone system and expressed frustrations with the barrier they felt it creates....
"There is a sign at reception that medication requests will not be taken over the telephone. However, almost a third of the people we spoke to told us they had no access to the internet so phoning in or queueing were the only options available to them...
"The telephone and face to face triage was not understood by the majority of patients we spoke to...
"Patients who had regular nurse appointments were very happy with the service they received."
What patients told us:
‘’I queue at the practice, arrive about 7.30 and wait till they open, get my name on the list, wait for a call back. It’s hard but it’s better than calling.”
"Happy with how I am treated, lovely people."
"Brilliant, helpful, they listen, I find them really efficient."
Our recommendations include:
- Telephone Triage: patients are not clear why they are being asked medical questions by non-clinical staff. It was seen as intrusive and unnecessary as, on a first come first serve basis, people are booked a telephone call with a GP who then carries out a triage to see whether an appointment will be made.
- Consider an exercise to evaluate barriers for patients using online systems which could highlight opportunities to build trust in online access systems and support patients to use them, freeing up telephone lines for patients who are digitally excluded.
