Why are restrictions placed on the pre-booking of doctors' appointments?
The appointments system in its present form has been in operation since March 2003. We now guarantee to offer you a doctor’s appointment on either of the next two working days - with the intention being that as many patients as possible will be able to book with their own doctor. We also offer limited pre-booking (two appointments in each session, to be booked up to four weeks in advance with the patient’s own doctor, or with a female doctor if for a specifically female problem). If you ask for a “same day urgent” appointment, we will generally arrange for a nurse to telephone you; she will then discuss with you the most appropriate treatment (which may, of course, be a doctor’s appointment on the same day).
Between March and November 2003 we conducted five Patient Satisfaction Surveys to gauge patient reaction to the new system. On each occasion between 87% and 93% of patients responded "Very Satisfied" or "Satisfied" to the question “Overall how satisfied are you with the availability of doctors’ appointments at this practice?” In the light of these figures we conclude that the great majority of patients are satisfied with the new system.
However, we are aware that some people, especially working people with busy timetables whose medical problems are not urgent, can be inconvenienced by the limited choice of appointment times which may be available over the next two working days, by the limited availability of pre-bookable appointments, and by the fact that it is often necessary to ‘phone the surgery early in the morning to ensure a good choice of appointment times. We are aware also that patients of part-time doctors may find it more difficult to make a convenient and timely appointment with their own doctor. These issues could be addressed to some degree by the practice’s doctors simply adding more appointment times on demand - but this could lead to the very unsatisfactory situation of highly variable workloads and some very long surgeries on some days.
We now consider that the current system enables us to strike a reasonable balance between meeting the needs and wishes of patients, whilst ensuring that doctors’ workloads remain manageable; whilst also enabling us to meet the target proposed by the Government for the new GP contract - that patients will be able to see a doctor within 48 hours. We also consider it offers significant advantages over the traditional booking system we operated last year - with which there could be a wait of several days, or longer, for a routine appointment - we used to receive complaints that this was unsatisfactory. However, we are sorry that for a small number of patients the present restrictions on pre-booking can cause some inconvenience.
We will
continue to monitor the way our appointment system operates (and this will
include further Patient Satisfaction Surveys), and we will be open to
considering how the system can be improved in the future.
December 2003
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Why, if this is an NHS practice, are fees charged for some work?
Doctors’ Terms of
Service provide for a number of statutory medical certificates to be issued to
patients free of charge (the main example being statutory sickness
certificates). However charges may be made for work which is not part of a
doctor's normal NHS responsibilities, for example: medical examinations for
employment purposes, letters, and the endorsing of passport applications and
photographs.
The charges which are made at this practice are displayed on the notice board by the public telephone near the Reception Desk, and are available on this website - click this link. They may occasionally be reduced or waived, but only in exceptional circumstances.
The reasons why there are charges are as follows:
- the doctors believe that it is reasonable that they receive appropriate remuneration for work for which they are not remunerated by the NHS
- the practice is committed to informing all patients in advance of the existence of a charge
- the doctors review the level of charges on a regular basis, and will occasionally reduce a fee if they conclude that it is inappropriately high (this has happened in the past); however they would like patients to be aware that often it is not obvious how much work has been needed to produce the end product, which may sometimes be only a short letter; the charges reflect:
. the time taken by doctors to review patient notes
. the responsibility that the doctors take when they declare a patient, for example, fit or not fit to drive or travel
. administration costs (involving secretarial and reception staff).