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Original poster

What would you like to change about your GP practice???

70 replies

tellmewhatyouthink · 04/03/2009 19:36

Following on from other threads about having it in for their GP surgeries, wanting to kill GP etc - what things would you like to change about your GP practice (within reason!)? What would increase your satisfaction as a patient?
Can be about doctors/nurses/receptionists or systems etc

Out of interest - but also for a project I'm doing about increasing patient satisfaction, so would really appreciate replies. Also other GPs might read and make changes (possibly)

TIA

OP posts:
homicidalmatriach · 04/03/2009 19:40

My GP practice has improved quite a lot since they introduced the ability to email your GP. Also telephone consults are excellent for busy mums 'DD has a rash, the same as last time, I think it's fine, is it okay to leave it 24 hours and see what happens etc' instead of panicking and waiting two hours to see a GP.

We have autocheck-in as well so you don't have to see the receptionist or wait in a queue and reveal your details to the queue at large. Is slightly buggered by the large display of your name when you are called in on an LED board though.

We've also got one of those snazzy - put your arm in and have your BP checked machines, and scales in the waiting area (beats Womens' Weekly).

More soon, DS wailing!

sarah293 · 04/03/2009 19:42

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sarah293 · 04/03/2009 19:43

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homicidalmatriach · 04/03/2009 19:48

I would really like our dispensing service to manage to make the mental connection between the doctor prescribing a drug and the patient being likely to come get it five minutes after the appt, rather than acting like it's an unusual request (and that the script has not shot out of their printer right next to them direct from the doctor) and then when you ask for it, they say 'oooh I'll have to look, take a seat' and faff about for ages while your child who has just had an injection wails/gnashes teeth/defecates on the floor

TheOldestCat · 04/03/2009 19:49

Some appointments you can book for that week, not three weeks in advance. A mix of booked and on-the-day appointments would be ideal. At the moment, you have to ring at 8, normally ring and re-ring until 8:30 when you finally get through to be told there are no appointments left, try tomorrow. Quite frustrating if you've taken time off work to call.

It once took me four days to get a quite poorly DD seen, when she was just a baby, and she had a bad chest infection.

For what it's worth, the GPs, nurse and health visitors are great. But the receptionists aren't very helpful and make you feel like an unnecessary part of their job (not slagging off receptionists in general at all - they were great at the last two practices I was registered at). I appreciate they do get a lot of abuse from some, so maybe it's understandable.

homicidalmatriach · 04/03/2009 19:50

Riven - be careful what you wish for - we have automatic doors which open outwards and smush you and any small children around you into the wall if you don't know which way they work and then trap you between double doors because one door is not able to open unless the other is shut - such a larf for claustrophobics

MayorNaze · 04/03/2009 19:50

the gp and the pharmacist to actually know the same thing s about the same drugs and stock so you do not stand in line for 10 minutes for the pharmacist to say "we don't have this" or "this is not suitable for..."

and then you have to go in and queue to see the gp again...

also receptionists. just be nice. it wont kill you.

they are bred in test-tubes somewhere ar gp receptionists...

warthog · 04/03/2009 19:51

i would like to see the same gp more than twice (that's the max i've reached so far).

i'd like the hv to actually pitch up when she's supposed to. didn't bother to visit after dd2 came out of hospital - twice. hospital couldn't believe it.

warthog · 04/03/2009 19:52

oh yes, would like to actually get my pregnancy card so that i can get free prescriptions. 2 babies and still no $&*£( card. how hard can it be????

SnowlightMcKenzie · 04/03/2009 19:52

Being allowed to take buggies in for pre-walking children.

To not have to wait for 40mins with kiddies.

CrackerNut · 04/03/2009 19:53

Does anyone on this thread know wether you have to have a good reason to change to another practice if you aren't moving house ??

I'd like to change mine to another local practice as basically the location is just alot more conveinient for me.

Original poster
tellmewhatyouthink · 04/03/2009 19:53

great - keep 'em coming!

(ps what you say might actually make a difference)

OP posts:
southeastastra · 04/03/2009 19:53

better tannoy systems.
BAN those small annoying bead toys for children.
BAN mobile phones.
big notices to tell people to shut up

our receptionists are nice. though i was once told by my dr that i couldn't have two problems at one appointment which was annoying as i'd saved them up and i was the last one waiting.

SnowlightMcKenzie · 04/03/2009 19:54

For them to diagnose occassionally rather than sit there and ask you:

What do you think you have?

What do you want me to do?

No, it's too expensive.

Tidey · 04/03/2009 19:55

Ideally, less than a three-week wait to see a doctor. By the time I can get an appointment I'm usually better. Maybe that's why they do it? It must save them time and money.

SnowlightMcKenzie · 04/03/2009 19:55

To not be told:

'if it gets any worse then come back'

Well actually I am here in the first place because it is worse.

And to never EVER ask:

'Is this your first child?'

sarah293 · 04/03/2009 19:56

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SnowlightMcKenzie · 04/03/2009 19:57

Oh one more:

To not be asked when making an appoinment:

'Is it an emergency?'

No, of course it's not a blardy emergency. I'd be in A&E if if it was!

Original poster
tellmewhatyouthink · 04/03/2009 19:57

You can go to whichever GP you want, as long as you're in the catchment area. The new GP might ask why you are changing but shouldn't be a problem. Where i work- we used to have a courtesy appointment to discuss if there were problems with the old practice before we take on new patients from a nearby practice (which to be honest was a bit rubbish so we got a load of their patients)

OP posts:
SnowlightMcKenzie · 04/03/2009 20:01

Not to be told to go to a Walk In if it is urgent when the joke is that our nearest walk-in is actually a train it and bus it in. Hardly possible when you are poorly.

flowerybeanbag · 04/03/2009 20:02

Definitely automatic doors. There are two doors to open to get into my surgery, both of which require handles to be pushed down, then the door pushed - you can't just push the door with your back or shoulder, you need to manipulate the handle.

Ludicrously inaccessible given it's a doctor's surgery - they are teeming with pushchairs, walking sticks and various people with mobility difficulties all struggling with the doors and trying to help each other.

Also I would like to be able to book appointments in advance. You can only book appointments on the day itself. So this means you have to be ready with the phone at 8.30 on the dot which is when they open, then keep pressing 'redial' until you get through. You then get an appointment. So you must take the whole day off work as you won't know when the appointment will be, and if for some reason you can't be on the phone at 8.30, you don't get an appointment at all.

Even one day in advance would be nice.

ja9 · 04/03/2009 20:04

The nippy receptionist with dreadful telephone manner. She speaks so fast you can't get in a word in so you have to buutt in, sounding rude and harassed. she makes me mad

so glad someone started this thread and i got the chance to get this off my chest

wobbegong · 04/03/2009 20:04

I would like to be able to get an appointment in the same week.

wobbegong · 04/03/2009 20:05

I think I have the same GP as Tidey.

IamAlsoADreamer · 04/03/2009 20:05

i agree about receptionists
one reduced me to tears because i had to cancel an appointment an hour before i was suppose to go.
my lo was ill and had finally gone to sleep after being awake all night, i was ill hence the appointment, and nobody to look after him whilst i went to the appt -so rang and cancelled [instead of just not turning up] and i got a massive lecture about how unreasonable i was ,someone else could have had the appointment etcetc.
so yes just explain to the receptionists that just sometimes us mums really really are at the end of our ropes and we could do with somebody freindly,helpful,understanding ,sympathetic at the end of the line.
all she had to sy to me was it is a little short notice perhaps next time if you could let us know a bit earlier and then at least i would have been able to explain.