Dear Patients
We wanted to make you aware of a significant event affecting the Practice.
We have 16 members of our team now self-isolating following positive covid test results. This includes over half of our reception and prescription team.
We are sorry to advise that this will result in further waiting times on the telephone and delay to our normal prescription services.
In addition, please also note there is a national shortage of the blood test tube, as a result of supply issues. In order to manage demand, NHS England have provided strict guidance to all GP Practices, which will significantly restrict blood tests that are undertaken. All, but clinically urgent testing must be halted until 17th September and regretfully this will result in the cancellation of a number of routine blood tests.
We kindly ask that you to continue to bear with us and thank you so much for your patience. Whilst most of our patients have been supportive and accepting of the challenges that we, and indeed the wider NHS face, unfortunately we are also aware of a growing perception amongst some patients that we have been doing very little. Our Doctors, nurses and administrative staff have been working flat out since February 2020 however, we have received numerous letters of complaint, abhorrent threads of opinion on social media and direct verbal abuse on a daily basis. Here are some of the extremely distressing and threatening comments our conscientious team have been subjected to;
“If I die. It will be your fault”
“Your Drs have blood on their hands”
“What have the Drs been doing ? Sitting in their offices and not seeing anyone that’s what they are doing”
“Why can I go into Morrison’s, get a dentist appointment, but not see my GP?”
“I’m entitled to see who I want, when I want”
“I’ve had my jab, so I’m immune, so give me an appointment”
“Your service is not good enough”
“I demand you return to normal opening of the surgery so reception can be open again”.
“Don’t tell me it’s because of covid because I have adapted my life to the ” new normal” and so should you”.
We have a zero-tolerance policy on verbal or physical abuse towards our GPs, Nursing team and Reception team.
None of the above could be further from the truth. Patient demand is higher than ever and we have a backlog in the same way that hospitals do. This explains the reason it is taking so long to get through to the surgery. We are simply overwhelmed by the demand but we continue to do our best. This is what we have been doing and will continue to do within the confines of NHS guidelines, to provide the best care possible;
- Patient Contact – In the last 7 days we have answered over 4,000 separate telephone calls from patients and made approx. 1500 outgoing calls to patients.
- Patient Access – Face-to-face contact has had to be limited across all NHS services to protect you and keep you safe from the risk of infection.
With increasing corona virus infection rates and cases rising in our communities, protection of our patients and staff remains paramount. This is why we can’t return to normal operations and have continued to limit patient access. Please be kind and polite to all our team as we do this.
- GP Appointment & Contact – Our GP’s make, on average, 40-50 patient contacts per day (and this excludes all admin work received/prescription requests etc) . It is completely untrue that GP’s are not seeing patients. Whilst we acknowledge many consultation are over the telephone, where necessary, many patients have been called in and seen face to face by their GP’s and we have continued home visits throughout to our most vulnerable patients.
- Practice Opening Times – We have remained ‘open’ ever since the start of Covid and our telephone lines continue to be open from 0800-1830 Monday to Friday.
- Treatment Room Service – Our Nursing team, with the exception of ear micro suction, have restored the full range of our patient services and routine assessments for chronic illness to pre-pandemic levels and we continue to work hard on increasing the volume of these services.
- Performance Levels – We have been doing our absolute best to provide a level of service despite all the challenges – This has been validated by the most recent Patient Survey, which puts our care higher than both the Local and national averages; to view GP Patient Survey click here
Despite these efforts and lockdown measures lifting, we must be honest and tell you that the pandemic has not ended, the threat of COVID– 19 remains and general practice will continue to struggle to meet the growing needs of patients.
We continue to be most grateful for the kindness and understanding from the majority of our patients over the past 18 months. Thank you so much.
Please remain supportive of us, so that we can support you.
