Welcome to the Practice
Drs R Saha, J Gossow and R Johnson
Salaried GPs: Drs A Hill, P Allan and Dr M Moore
The Doctors and staff would like to welcome you to the Practice. Our Vision Statement says “We aim to deliver high quality primary health care to all our patients.” We value the opportunity to provide a Service, where we can work in partnership with our patients to improve and maintain health.
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PATIENT REFERENCE GROUP REPORT
In accepting that many of our patients have access to a computer we made a conscious decision to form a virtual Patient Reference Group ( PRG) so that we could seek a cross section of patients views to help us develop an action plan to help towards improving our service to patients. As a business we strive continually to develop our service and the involvement of patients in the decision making process is key to a successful outcome.
During July 2011 we advertised through our web site and introduced posters to both sites asking for volunteers to assist us. We purposely asked for a good cross section of patients to include those with Long Term Conditions, young, old, working/not working, disabled, ethnic minorities, retired, carers etc. In the event a group was formed having drawn from the above representative areas. These include a carer, one mixed ethnicity, two of whom we know to be employed with the remainder over retirement age. Of those retired the average age is 66 years. We will shortly be reviewing the PRG and will hope to retain those who have already contributed, for the next exercise. This will begin in autumn 2012 and not only will we be looking for additional members but we will be trying to attract and engage with others to include marginalised or vulnerable groups and patients with learning disabilities as we need to have recorded the views and perceptions from a wider range of areas, those, for example, who use or may wish to use our services for differing reasons.
On 13th October we made contact with the group thanking them for volunteering and setting the scene. We circulated a copy of the GPAC (the general practice assessment questionnaire) a recognised form of survey, the wording of which has been carefully thought through by a professional company, to provide constructive feedback, raw data being fed into software for analysis. We asked the group to agree that we could use this tool to form the basis of our survey which they did.
Some 220 patients were surveyed and the results were sent to the group on 18th January seeking views on what actions they considered appropriate to introduce improvement. We sent our analysis and suggestions for improvement to consider along with their own ideas so that an overall action plan could be constructed for the Practice to follow during the next 12 months. The group subsequently responded with their respective views and an action plan was jointly devised.
The survey tells us that we have lots of positives of which we are very proud, however, there are areas where improvement is required and the statistics reveal some processes need attention. A copy of the survey analysis is available on request.
On 14th February we wrote again to the group asking for final agreement to the action plan and we received affirmation that this can be published onto Zetland’s website for all of our patients to see what we are working towards during the next 12 months.
ACTION PLAN (to be updated at regular intervals)
LEAN TRAINING TO BE IMPLEMENTED AT ZETLAND MEDICAL PRACTICE
Update:- a professional organisation has already visited providing us with the skills to tackle areas of inefficiency and service development. We now have a group and a system within the Practice which will be tasked with areas requiring attention.
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS TO BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING PURPOSES
Update:- quotations being obtained for a modern system which will allow an extra incoming line, recording, introductory messages and queuing system. The software will allow for further enhancement.
APPOINTMENTS – DOCTOR WILL EXPLORE THE NEW ROLE OF TELEPHONE TRIAGE PRIOR TO APPOINTMENT BEING MADE IMPROVING ACCESS TO MEDICAL ADVICE
Update:- an option to an appointment being made, previously a matter of course, the doctor will use judgement to see if it is necessary for a face to face meeting, this system could release more appointments making is easier to meet demand.
APPOINTMENTS ON LINE
Update:- a number of appointments to be made available on a daily basis for those who wish to book electronically obviating the need to telephone or call personally.
WAITING TO BE SEEN – IMPROVEMENT IN WAITING TIMES
Update:- appointment system to be reviewed. To be discussed at practice meetings when we will try ways in which we can reduce the length of time patients have to wait to see a clinician. Our computer system has been upgraded and one of the benefits is that there will be much less down time experienced.
IMPROVED ACCESS TO DOCTOR OF CHOICE
Update: - to be reviewed and improved through triage system
IMPROVED ACCESS FOR WORKING PATIENTS
Update: - we continue to benefit from all day Saturday opening (9.00am to 3.00pm) and are open one evening every week, mainly Tuesdays (6.30pm to 8.45pm)
More information can be obtained from the Practice Manager
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday:
08.00 to 18.00 Emergencies only before 08.30
Evening Opening:
One evening a week doctor appointments
Saturday Opening:
09.00 to 15.00 for doctor and nurse appointments
