For the fifth consecutive year, the Practice asked a sample of patients attending the two Surgeries to complete a Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire designed by the University of Exeter on behalf of the Department of Health. The surveys were issued in November – December 2008 and the results and analysis were received at the end of February. 394 patients completed the survey, c. 4.3% of our total Practice population of just over 9,100 patients.
On 9th March 2009 several members of the PPP (Patient Practice Partnership) met with representatives of the Practice to discuss the survey findings and identify specific actions that the Practice might take to improve the patient experience and how the Practice delivers services to patients.
The results were generally good, slightly better than last year and higher than the average of all Practices undertaking this service. It is gratifying that in response to the question about “Overall Satisfaction with Visit”, 88% of respondents rated this as Excellent or Very Good.
Looking back over the years of the survey, the Practice has listened to what the survey respondents and the PPP have said and have taken whatever practical and feasible steps it can to respond to patient concerns. To name a few :
· Improvements to the telephone system to manage incoming calls better : this remains an area of significant concern for patients. The Practice will be upgrading its telephone system again in the spring 2009 and as part of this will introduce an updated way of handling incoming calls. It is hoped that this will help telephone access, particularly at the “bottleneck” time first thing in the morning.
· Continual adjustments to the appointment system including introduction of the early morning surgeries, evening appointments and increased opportunity to prebook appointments :
Ø One third of our appointments are prebookable up to 2 weeks in advance
Ø One third are prebookable 2 days in advance
Ø One third are bookable on the day
· Water dispensers provided in waiting rooms
· Alcohol gel provided in waiting rooms to acknowledge patients’ concerns about health care acquired infections
· Name badges for all staff, to emphasise the sense of a “personal” service to patients
· Extended opening hours to meet the needs of working/commuting patients : following on the introduction of the Early bird morning surgeries at Churchill back in 2005, we now offer appointments at Churchill from 6.30 am until 8 pm in the evening.
The Practice would like to thank all the patients who took the time and trouble to respond to the survey. The feedback is extremely helpful to us - it guides us as to how we can continually try to improve the way we deliver care and services to you our patients.
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