Alpine House Surgery

YOU SAID

WE DID

We had long waiting times to answer the phone

We have installed a new phone system and are working through altering how we answer calls. 

We have switched on “call back” so at times when we are busy you can select for us to ring you back when we are free, this stops you having to wait in long queues.

We have looked at our telephone data and are currently working on ways to alter our workloads to respond more quickly to calls at our busiest times.

We are offering on-line access for admin queries so you can raise your non-emergency queries with us, and we will respond within two days to inform you how we can best manage your request, and when.

We have updated our website to let you know how best to contact us and how to access other services when we are closed.

We are now promoting PHARMACY FIRST, where you can obtain help and advice for any of the following symptoms, so that you do not need to access primary care appointments, which will free up time for us to see more complex patients sooner.

We now encourage all patients on a repeat prescription to order their next repeat prescription on-line, this saves you having to contact us by telephone or in person, which helps other patients to access our services more quickly.  Please see our website for how to order your repeat prescription on-line.

You said you had to wait a long time to obtain an appointment

We have increased the number and range of clinicians that now provide services to our patients, and you can now access appointments with:

Pharmacists – in house and via Pharmacy First

Paramedics

Social Prescriber Link Workers

Mental Health Practitioners

Please inform our staff when you contact us what your needs are so they will be able to co-ordinate your care and help direct you to the service that is most appropriate for your needs. 

These clinicians are part of our team and are working to ensure your needs are being met by the most appropriate service.

We have enabled patients who are registered on the NHS App, or through our clinical software partner, to book GP appointments directly.

We have worked with our local GP colleagues in our Primary Care Network (Soar Valley PCN) to offer EXTENDED ACCESS CLINIC APPOINTMENTS to patients, these appointments are available via telephone consultations or face to face and are located here and in nearby sites.  All the practices within our Primary Care Network are working together to help improve access for our patients.  These appointments are available on some evenings and weekends.

We have shared information on our websites and noticeboards for the new PHARMACY FIRST service, where these are provided by local pharmacies who are working to help support patients to access services locally or via telephone calls for range of conditions, noted below, our team can help refer you into this new service now.

You said you were not sure where to go for help and advice to best look after yourself, without needing to contact us

If people are generally in good health, there is no reason why they can’t look after minor ailments themselves. In most cases the illness will get better by itself and so an appointment at the practice isn’t usually required.  For example in a normally healthy patients the following symptoms can be managed with self-care in the first instance:-

·         Blocked sinuses

·         Vomiting bug

·         Coughs

·         Colds and flu

·         Chest infection

·         Sore throat

·         Back pain

Patients can find out more information about self-care and get advice about treating minor ailments by visiting www.leicestercityccg.nhs.uk/treating-minor-ailments.

We have put this information onto our website, to help you to look after minor illnesses yourself.  Some Pharmacies also offer a Minor Illness service, which we can direct you to.

We have put a link on our website for how you can access the NHS App, this APP helps to provide useful information to you.  The NHS App can also help you to order your repeat prescriptions, nominate a pharmacy to collect your prescription from without having to pick it up from the practice, book a range of appointments, cancel your appointments (and if enabled you can ask to view your medical records too.)

You said when you saw a clinician you were happy with the care and attention you received from them

We are working with our primary care colleagues within our Primary Care Network to sustain services locally, and when possible, to do so, to increase services.  Our largest change over recent years has been to increase the range and number of health care workers that you can now access appointments with, these include:

Pharmacists including the new Pharmacy First Scheme

Paramedics

Social Prescriber Link Workers

Mental Health Practitioners

Occupational Therapist

By including these new workers, your core primary care team remain available to see patients with complex health care needs/ with long term conditions/ to offer more local services to you, to meet the growing needs of our ageing population year on year.

You said that you do not always find it easy to use our practice website

We have been working with our website provider to make our website easier to navigate, please use the link below and take a look at it now to see what has changed.

https://www.alpinehousesurgery.co.uk/ 

We will be working with our Patient Participation group (PPG) to refresh the information we share with you on our website so your representatives can help to improve our website.

We now share the results of our Friends and Family Test surveys on our website, by the use of “you said / WE DID” updates, to keep you informed of our improvements.

Our Practice wants to confirm to our patients about the work we have been undertaking to help improve access to our services, and to help improve the service you receive when you make contact with us. 

By listening to the results of patient survey feedback we aim to:

Continue to review and improve access to services.

Continue to review and modernise the telephone system/ make changes to our website information / increase the range and type of services that you can now access locally / help you to be more informed on where you can access health information.

We have now put a link onto our website for you to complete a “Friends and Family Survey” so you can feedback to us on whether you think the changes we have introduced are helping you to access services more easily.