AMWELL STREET SURGERY

Patient Participation Group

The Doctors at Amwell Street Surgery are keen to improve the services provided to patients and are encouraging patients to take an active interest in their health care. We are inviting patients to work with the practice to form a Patient Participation Group (PPG) by email.  This will enable us to get the viewpoint of as many patients as possible on the services currently provided as well as practical support in identifying where improvements are required.

 We believe that this new group will help us and our patients gain a clearer understanding of what health services are required. It will also help influence the decision making process when redesigning existing and creating new health services locally, regionally and nationally.

The purpose of the group is about patients taking ownership and working with the practice to;

•                     advise the practice on what matters most to patients

•                     identify solutions to problems

•                     foster improved communication between the practice and its patients

•                     help patients to take more responsibility for their health

•                     provide practical support and help to implement change

•                     think about the wider patient interest and not just their own personal concerns

•                     always work constructively and positively, helping to identify solutions

•                     work in partnership with the practice and other local organisations

 

The group is not;

 

•                     a forum for individual complaints and single issues

•                     a vehicle to resolve individuals own personal issues

•                     a doctors’ fan club

 

Are you aged 16 years or over and interested in joining our Patient Participation Email Group?

 

If the answer is YES and you are happy for us to contact you periodically by email, please complete the Patient Participation form which can be downloaded from our website at  amwell.surgery@nhs.net Once completed the form should be emailed back to amwell.ppg@nhs.net.

 

Your contact details will only be used for this purpose and will be kept safely. We will not share or forward your details to any other company or organisation.

For information on our latest PPG news please select the uploads tab at the top of this screen.

Last updated on 28 March 2012.

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In-House Phlebotomy Service

PHLEBOTOMY SERVICE

 A Phlebotomist from the Princess Alexandra Hospital will be here from 8.30am until 10am on

Monday, Wednesday & Friday

to take bloods for our patients

 If you would like to have your blood test carried out here you will need to book an appointment

 Please ask at reception or call 01992 444456 to book your  appointment

Last updated on 04 March 2013.

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Your Medical Record Information

Associated document

Your Medical Record Information (.rtf, 90.62 KB)

Last updated on 28 March 2012.

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Complaints Procedure

Amwell Surgery Complaints Procedure  

We at Amwell Street Surgery endeavour at all times to give our patients the best possible service. If, despite our efforts, you feel that we have failed in some way to achieve the standards we aspire to, we feel that it is in the best interests of all parties that the matter be brought to our attention. 

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily, often at the time they arise with the person concerned. Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be within 12 months of the incident, or within 12 months of you discovering that you have a problem.

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care, however you are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. 

Please send your complaint to the practice giving as much detail as possible to; The Practice Manager, 19 Amwell Street, Hoddesdon, Herts, EN11 8TS.  Receipt of your complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days and a response sent within 10 working days. If for some reason the response is likely to take longer than this we will let you know. 

If you are unable to discuss your complaint with us you can ask for NHS England to look into your concerns. The contact details for making a complaint to NHS England are; NHS Commissioning Board, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT, Telephone 0300 3112233, email nhscommissioningboard@hscic.gov.uk  

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can refer the matter to: The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP, Telephone 0345 0154033  or visit www.ombudsman.org.uk

Associated document

Complaints Procedure (.doc, 31 KB)

Last updated on 16 April 2013.

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Patient Participation Group Latest Report

Priority Areas for Improvement & Proposed Actions  Feb 2013

 Background to Group

This is the second year for the Amwell Street Patient Participation Group (referred to as PPG in this report) and to ensure entry to the PPG is available to all registered patients the Practice has continued to advertise and invite patients to join the group by advertising on our website, practice leaflet and patient call system.

 

The original group started with 181 patients but during the year a total of 5 left as they were no longer registered patients of the practice and 4 new members joined. The current group has 180 members.

 

2012 – 2013 Priority Areas for Improvement Survey Results

In February all patients were given the opportunity to provide their opinion on what they considered to be the 4 most important areas for improvement for us to focus on. This was communicated to patients by emailing the PPG members, posting an update and questionnaire on our website as well as notifying patients visiting the practice using our patient call system.

 

A total of 34 responses were received of which 32 were from PPG members and 2 from non PPG members.

 

The results (copy attached)  revealed the top 4 priority areas for improvement as follows;

 

1. Improve ease of booking an appointment to see a Doctor

 

1. Improve ease of contacting the practice by telephone

 

1. Improve ease of booking an appointment to see a nurse (This area also scored as the 4^th highest ranked area for improvement)

 

We have identified some changes below which we believe will help to improve the service we provide. However before you read them we feel it is important that you have a full understanding of the impact these changes may/can have to ensure you are happy for us to proceed.

 

Important Points to Consider for the Improvements Requested

In 2012;

• 52,649 appointments were booked which equals 209 appointments a day and is 1,939 more appointments than the previous year.
• 1,279 home visits were made which equals 5 a day. Whilst we are always willing to provide home visits to our housebound and/or terminally ill patients, it is important to understand that Dr’s can normally see 5 patients at the surgery in the time it takes to do 1 home visit.
• 1283 patients did not turn up for the appointment they had pre-booked which equals 5 a day.
• Our Dr’s provide more sessions in general as they work 9 full sessions a week, which is 1 session more than the average GP and means our Dr’s offer 28 more appointments per 1000 patients than the average Hertfordshire GP Surgery. We therefore need to understand why in the latest external patient survey our patients have rated us as 113^th out of 132 practices for ‘Able to get an appointment to see or speak to someone’. However it was pleasing to see that we were rated as 22^nd out of 132 practices for ‘Overall experience of your GP surgery’.  
• We have more Doctor hours per registered patient compared to the average Hertfordshire GP Surgery which means each Doctor (full time equivalent) at Amwell Street has 217 less patients to manage.
• Following your feedback regarding the lack of appointments available on line and on the automated telephone system a full review of these systems was carried out which revealed some technical faults. The online appointment error was corrected on 28.2.13 and the automated telephone system error will be corrected by 7^th March 2013. Your feedback in helping to identify these faults is greatly appreciated.
• We installed some extra phone lines despite the fact that we are due to move to new premises and these phone lines cannot be taken to our site. We also changed the opening times for our appointment lines to start at 8am and increased the reception staffs start times to enable the phones to be manned from 8am.
• Finally the lack of space in our current premises makes it very difficult to plan any major staff reorganisation as all rooms are used to maximum capacity.

 

Proposed Actions 

 

Priority 1. You have asked us to ‘Improve the ease of booking an appointment to see a Doctor’

 

1. We propose that we change our advance booking of appointments from 2 weeks to 4 weeks which means patients would be able to book appointments up to 4 weeks ahead.

 

1. We propose to release more of the Doctors appointments in advance and save less appointments for the actual day. These appointments will be saved for ‘Medical Emergencies’ only.   To make this work patients will need to understand that ‘Medical emergencies’ are not:- repeat prescription requests’, fit to work certificates/sick certificates, cough’s, colds etc

 

 

Priority 2. You have asked us to ‘Improve the ease of contacting the practice by telephone’

 

1. We have identified and corrected an error on our automated telephone booking of appointments system which should ease some of the congestion on the phones.

 

1. The changes identified in priority 1 above should enable easier access to appointments which will increase the number of patient who can book an appointment online, via the automated system or by calling the surgery. This will therefore reduce the number of patients who have to call back which will free up the phone lines for other.

 

 

 

 

 

Priority 3 & 4. You have asked us to ‘Improve the ease of booking an appointment to see a Nurse’

 

1. We propose to increase our Nursing hours on the days where room availability permits.

 

1. We propose to recruit and train a new HealthCare Assistant to enable delegation of appropriate Nursing duties and release more Nurse time.  

 

 

 

Finally we would like to thank everyone that has provided feedback which has helped us to identify the key areas you would like to see improved.

 

We welcome your comments on the results and actions proposed via email to  amwell.ppg@nhs.net and will continue to seek your views to help us identify other areas for change.  

Associated document

Year 2 PPG Priority Areas Results for emailing.doc (.doc, 138.5 KB)

Last updated on 04 March 2013.

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