Enter and View: Newport Pagnell Medical Centre

The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with patients, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience of Newport Pagnell Medical Centre.

Summary

• 31 patients took part in these conversations
• 7 were male, 23 were female, 1 chose not to respond
• 12 were under 25 years
• 7 were aged between 25 – 65,
• 12 were aged over 66, and 5 people preferred not to say 

What we found

On the day of our visit there were three doctors, four nurses of different specialties, a midwife, two urgent care clinicians, one pharmacist, one First Contact Practitioner and two specialist urinary nurses on duty throughout the day. There were additional clinical staff located at the other branch practices.

Patients told us they were a little confused about the online system. They said it was opened at 8am and is closed by 11am, reopening at 1pm for appointment bookings. Patients told us they didn’t find this helpful, particularly as there was no clear reason or messaging given for this 
pause in system availability. 

We observed patients being told their appointment was booked at a different branch. We noted that reception staff were very helpful in resolving the confusion although sometimes this was by rearranging appointments. People also told us that they were unable to get through on the phones to clarify the appointment location.

All conversations held at reception could be overheard within the waiting area as there is no privacy screening at the reception desk.

What patients told us:

“I never phone, I know I won’t get through but – it would be so much better to speak to someone about things which are difficult online.”

“I always get an appointment straight away for my children, but I wait for up to two weeks if I need anything."

“Nothing but praise for them all. Brilliant – a gold star from me.” 

“All the nurses are brilliant – shame there is no consistence of care with the doctors."

Our recommendations include:

• Consider tasking the PPG or an Admin Team member to offer ‘Tech Support/ training’ sessions for the new AccruX system.
• 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.
• Consider giving more information to patients around how you manage demand.
• Invest in staff training to communicate the feeling of residents surrounding ‘rough or brisk’ treatment during personal care from the male care staff, the staff are otherwise well liked, it was felt they did not know their own strength.