The Cornwall Road Medical Practice Website
| The Cornwall Road Medical
Practice 3 Frederick Treves House St John Way Dorchester DT1 2FD 01305 251128 |
Improving Practice
General Practice - Assessment Questionnaire
November
The partners and staff have reviewed
the findings of the GPAC report and compared the results with those from the
previous year.
We thank all
patients who took the time and trouble to complete questionnaires.
We were
pleased to note that for almost every category we were at, or above, the
national mean.
The only category where this was not
so was question 4b for the ‘availability of a particular doctor’. However the ‘availability of any doctor’ was
higher than the mean.
We were pleased to see that patients
value the ability to speak to a doctor on the telephone as we now have arranged
dedicated time for telephone consultations.
Almost all the parameters that
reflect the quality of the consultation itself were on, or above, the mean
suggesting that while patient may not have found it easy to see the doctor of
their choice, the doctor they did have consultation with proved highly
satisfactory.
We also reviewed the free text
observations, and were pleased to see that the whole team from receptionists
through to nurses and doctors received a large number of positive comments
On several occasions friendliness of
the staff and doctors was mentioned and there was much appreciation of our new
premises, improved physical access and pleasant environment - though some
wanted a hot drinks machine, this is something we have decided against on
health and safety grounds.
The point about ‘availability of a particular
doctor’ was made. However, when asked about areas for improvement “to see my
own doctor but to be honest or other doctors I have seen our great and so it is
not problem" seems to put the shortcoming into perspective.
There were some comments about the
wish for Saturday morning surgery. This has now been addressed by the ‘Extended
Hours Initiative’; in fact the uptake of these appointments is low.
We recognise the continual tension
between Access and Continuity of Care. In this practice where a number of the
doctors are not full time this can be a particular challenge. However, over 60%
of patients said they are usually seen on the same or next working day. We do
allow appointments to be made well in advance so a patient who wishes to see a
particular doctor can choose to wait to do so. The option to see one of his or
her colleagues sooner is always available.
60% of respondents reported usually
waiting 10 minutes or less and only 5.5% had to wait more than 20 minutes.
Because of this we feel our appointment system is generally working well. We do accept that there will always be
occasions when the complex needs of some patients may lead to some delays for
those waiting to be seen after. The free text comments indicate that our
patients are willing to accept that. As
one commented "I might need the extra time some day"
Review of last year's actions.
We now have late-night opening one
evening a week and at least one Saturday morning surgery each month for those who
find routine surgery times difficult.
We have an Information Guide working
in the practice one morning each week demonstrating the range of health
information resources available using a dedicated computer terminal. This terminal is also available for patients
to use themselves to view a variety of highlighted high-quality health
information resources.
The practice website has been
completely redesigned. This too will help patients have good information about
the practice and the services we offer as well as signposting internet based
information.
This year's actions
