Booking Appointments At Saddleworth Medical Practice
The latest newsletter from the Patient Participation Group for the Saddleworth Medical Practice has been published. It includes a detailed reponse from the surgery to a recent complaint about the appointment system.
I’ve reproduced that response below. If you have any comments about it, you can leave them at the bottom of the article.
THE PRACTICE CONSIDERS the current specific appointment system has proved an overwhelming success. For non-urgent appointments patients no longer have to stay in a waiting room for hours to be seen by a doctor. Nonetheless it has to be accepted there will be occasions when patients have to be seen as a matter of urgency and no matter what system is applied it will always be a question of determining priorities. The current system tries to cater for all eventualities.
A triage nurse is available each morning from 8am to 9am to listen to patients who may require an appointment that day. A professional decision is made and same-day appointments are made as appropriate. The need for continuity of care for those with long-term conditions, for example, is taken into consideration when a decision is made.
The Walk-In Centre in the centre of Oldham near the bus station is available when all the same-day appointments have gone. The last monitoring by the Primary Care Trust showed patients from this practice are one of the lowest users of both the Integrated Care Centre and the ‘out of hours’ services such as Go To Doc. This indicates the practice does its best to accommodate patients locally.
Unlike other practices, Saddleworth offers appointments up to six weeks ahead.
Lastly, the practice is always willing to listen to patients who have views about how the service the practice provides can be improved. Issues can be sent to the Patient Participation Group through the surgery or directly to Tracy Jenkinson, Practice Manager at the surgery.
The surgery’s website can be visited here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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