BROCKWOOD MEDICAL PRACTICE
PATIENT PARTICIPATION REPORT 31.03.14

Results of Survey and Action Plan

INTRODUCTION

Each year we carry out a patient survey that allows us to establish our patient’s expectations of service delivery and gives us the opportunityto investigate patient suggestions and makeimprovements where possible.

Our patient participation group assists us in steering the direction of such surveys.

We are grateful for the work of the PPG and the patients who have taken the time to complete our survey. We strive to provide a high quality convenient service for our patients within the constraints of the requirements and funding of the NHS.

SURGERY OPENING HOURS

Brockham Surgery (tel. 01737 843259)

Monday to Friday8.00am to 6.30pm (early closing Wed at 5pm)

North Holmwood Surgery (tel. 01306 885802)

Monday to Friday8.00am to 6.30pm (early closing Thurs at 4pm)

Newdigate Surgery (tel. 01306 631242)

Monday to Friday8.00am to 6.30pm (early closing Tues at 5pm)

PRACTICE POPULATION

Our patient population is 11,656. 51% are female and 49% male. 94% of our patients are white British.

50 patients are in our patient group. 27 are female and 23 are male. 38 of them are white British, 1 Indian and 1 other. They range from under 16 to 84 years of age. We consider that the Patient Group is representative.

SETTING UP THE PATIENT GROUP

The PRG is permanently advertised on the Practice website and we have recruited additional members.

PRIORITY ISSUES

The Patient Group were asked by email which issues concerned them most and their responses showed them to be (1) continuity of care (2) travelling to other surgeries for appointments (3) the change in the way we deliver our test results (4) communication with our patients.

THE SURVEY

The survey was distributed in the waiting rooms and on our website in February to March. It was constructed around the above issues.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

121 completed surveys were received. The results and our proposed action plan have been sent by email to members of the Patient Participation Group so that they could identify any areas that need addressing.

57% of respondents were female, 38% male and 5% did not tell us.

Surveys were completed by patients in the under 16 age range up to over 84s.

92% of respondents were white British, 1% white Irish and 1% other.

31% were regular attenders, 42% occasional attenders and 14% rarely attend.

The results of the survey are published on our website and paper copies are available in the waiting room of the surgery.

ACTION PLAN

Our action plan is below. This has been published on our website and placed in the waiting rooms of the surgery.

Many of our GPs have areas of specialist interest. Are you aware of which doctors have which special interests?
70% were not aware which doctors have special interests.

We need to inform our patients of which GPs have special interests. This is already published on our website. We need to inform patients of this and advertise this information to patients who do not have access to a computer via our noticeboard in all three waiting rooms and by adding it into our regular Practice newsletter. This will be put into our next newsletter which is due out in May 2014.

In your experience, how would you describe the wait for an emergency appointment?

0% said very poor, 7% said poor, 19% said acceptable, 45% said good and 17% said very good.

We asked this question in our patient survey last year and we have seen a significant improvement in our results. Overall, our patients are satisfied that they are able to get an emergency appointment when they need one. We will always see any patient who thinks they have an urgent medical problem on the same day.

In your recent experience, how would you describe the wait for a non-emergency appointment with the doctor of your choice?

12% said very poor, 24% said poor, 29% said acceptable, 23% said good and 6% said very good.

We asked this question last year and the results were similar. The Practice has undergone substantial change in the last two years with Dr Kober, Dr Jenner and Dr Chappell retiring and Brockham, Newdigate and North Holmwoodsurgeries merging. We have invested in several additional GPs and increased the availability of total appointments across all three sites. There are a number of patients who prefer to see a GP they already know and there has been a period of high demand for the existing GPs from patients who had previously seen Dr Kober, and Dr Jenner. As time passeswe hope the high demand on established GPs will lessen as patients build relationships with the new GPs.

In your recent experience, how would you describe the wait for a non-emergency appointment with any doctor?

0% said very poor, 6% said poor, 36% said acceptable, 38% said good and 12% said very good.

This question was repeated from our 2013 Patient Survey. Only 6% said the wait for a non-emergency appointment with any doctor was poor. This is a much higher level of patient satisfaction than for the wait for a non-emergency appointment with a doctor of your choice.

Thinking about your last visit to see a doctor. Which of the following was most important to you?
21% felt it was important to see a doctor quickly and overall patients are satisfied that they are able to get an emergency appointment when they need one.

27% said getting an appointment on the day or time of your choosing was important. We have invested in additional GPs and increased the number of appointments we offer. The result above stating only 6% said the wait for a non-emergency appointment was poor shows that on the whole our patients are happy that they are able to get an appointment when they want one.

38% said getting to see a particular doctor because you had seen him/her previously about the same problem was important and 23% said getting to see a particular doctor was important. It is clear from the results that patients feel it is important to see the same doctor for the same problem with continuity of care being essentialfor them.

In your recent experience, if you could not see the doctor of your choice, how satisfied were you with the doctor you saw?

2% said very poor, 4% said poor, 17% said acceptable, 43% said good and 23% said very good.

Even if a patient was not able to see the doctor of their choice initially, it is clear from these results that patients are happy with the doctor they did see.

You may be offered an appointment with our Nurse Practitioner. She is able to diagnose, prescribed medication and refer to secondary care. Are you aware of these appointments and the services she can provide?

61% knew about the service our Nurse Practitioner provided. We advertise this through our receptionists when they offer appointments and also with information on our noticeboard, in our Practice booklet and on our website. This information will be included in our next newsletter which is due out in May 2014.

In your recent experience, how would you describe the time you had to wait in the surgery for your appointment?

4% said very poor, 9% said poor, 39% said acceptable, 32% said good and 13% said very good.

Only 4% said the wait was very poor and only 9% said the wait was poor. These figures are an improvement on our results last year and the GP National Survey carried out in September 2013 showing that we are continually striving to improve. We appreciate that sometimes our doctors will overrun but this is often due to some patients having complicated medical problems or needs that are not predictable.

How do you think we could improve the comfort and/or ambience of the waiting room?

On the whole patients are happy with the comfort of our waiting rooms. The main issue was the radio playing. We play music not only to enhance the ambience of the waiting room but also to provide some privacy for patients who are speaking to reception staff. In another survey question when we asked whether we should play music in the waiting rooms 68% said yes we should. Given this result, we feel the radio should stay on but we will review the choice of whether we play music or which radio station should be played.

In your recent experience, have you been concerned over privacy at the reception desk?

71% were not concerned over privacy at the reception desk. 25% were concerned about privacy at the reception desk.
There are a number of things that can be done to improve the privacy; we can minimise the number of patients waiting at the reception desk. We have installed self-arrival touchscreen monitors at Brockham and Newdigate surgeries. This service will be available at North Holmwood surgery imminently. Ifyou would like to discuss something privately you can ask to speak to a receptionist or other member of staff in a separate room away from other patients. We are also looking at other options to improve on this.

We have recently changed the system for results of tests and now we will contact patients if there is an abnormal result but not if results are normal or no further action is required. This is in response to patients telling us that it was difficult to contact us for results and that in the majority of cases results are normal or no further action is required. What is your experience of the new system?

63% said this change was very satisfactory or satisfactory. 21% said they were unhappy with this change.

We have received a number of comments and suggestions about how we give out our results. The overriding concern for us is to give resultsout in a convenient and safe way to our patients. Our system was changed due to patient dissatisfaction with the old system. Having changed the system we will continue to review how it works and will look at any alternative solutions to help us improve. We recognise that it is problematic to get the right system in place to satisfy all our patients and we will be reviewing this with the Partners.

Do you think we communicate with you often enough about changes to the Practice and our services?

52% said we did not communicate enough. 38% said we did.
We appreciate more communication from the Practice is required. There have been a lot of changes in the NHS recently and it can be difficult to communicate with patients who do not attend the surgery regularly. We will use our PPG (patient participation group) to communicate information and we will produce regular newsletters which will be available both in our waiting rooms and on our website. We will contact local shops/chemist to see if we are able to display a copy of our newsletter for patients who are not regularly attending the surgery. We keep our website up to date regularly with new information. We put information on our noticeboards in our waiting rooms and we have recently started texting information to patients.