Daily Operation Update

Posted by: Monifa - Posted on:

Thorpewood Surgery is keen to provide the best patient experience possible.

To help us deliver a more efficient service we would like to confirm some details of our practice procedure:

  • The telephone system is new. It is designed to hold 15 callers. If you are ‘cut off’, please call again to be placed in the queue. The call queue was cut from 25 to 15 after feedback from patients.
  • When you submit an eConsult, you will receive an automated message advising that you will be contacted by 18:30 the following night. Please note – this is not when a clinician will contact you by. The ‘contact’ you receive is to advise of a date/time a clinician will contact you or advice on how to help you further with your illness/injury. The automated message cannot be changed as it is a national system that all patients experience. Please also note in busy periods, we may exceed the reply time of 18:30 the following night.
  • eConsult continued… After the automated response, you will receive an initial response telling you what will happen next. This may be in the form of a call or email from a clinician, an e-leaflet giving advice, or you may be signposted you to another service such as the Walk-In Centre, pharmacy, or physio. Not all e-Consults will result in a Doctor’s appointment as they are triaged to identify the best and most suitable service available for the issue you have reported.
  • Any decision regarding the necessity for a face-to-face appointment is solely down to the clinician dealing with your call/eConsult. The reception team have no authority to book face to face appointments. A Doctor will see you if you needto be seen.
  • Our Communications Policy states that if a clinician is due to call you for a consultation, they will call three times during the specified window you have been given. Please be aware each Clinician works in different ways so those calls may be spread throughout a session differently dependent on who the Clinician is.
  • We may signpost you to the Walk-In Centre on Rouen Road if we are full to safe capacity at the surgery or if the issue you are contacting us about is deemed to be a minor illness or injury. These can include tonsillitis, infected bites, sinusitis, urinary tract infections and rashes. All Surgeries use this service when at capacity, especially if the Duty Doctor believes what you have reported should be attended to that day.

We hope that by you understanding some of the procedures, this will help reduce call times and improve the service we are able to deliver to patients.

Regards,

Thorpewood Medical Group.