West Meon Surgery – Appointments Information
Your Questions Answered
Until COVID, West Meon Surgery ran a traditional 10-minute face to face appointment system. Some patients had several problems to discuss, and so 10 minutes was not a safe length of time to assess their medical needs. Also, that appointment system did not meet the needs of patients with mental health or complex medical problems. As a result, some clinics ran late, and patients were left waiting for their appointment. Add to that an emergency when a patient needs immediate GP intervention, and some clinic appointments might be cancelled and patients sent home.
With the arrival of COVID and the restrictions placed upon Primary Care, GP practices switched to telephone calls for all patient appointments.
Most GP practices have maintained this method of planning the daily patient list because it enables GPs to work in a more efficient way.
Q Why do I need a telephone consultation before I can see my GP?
A For better patient care. The telephone call helps us to better identify the care you need:
- Appropriate time can be scheduled to properly manage your health needs.
- You may need more than the standard 10-minute appointment time.
- You may not need to be seen – your health needs may be quickly addressed by this phone call. If you need to be seen by the GP, you will be seen.
Some patients have reported that the telephone consultation actually saves them time as well as help them schedule around work and childcare issues.
Q Are other GP practices using this telephone consultation system?
A Yes, most practices now use a telephone appointment first system for their patients requesting appointments.
Q What if I am acutely ill or it’s an emergency?
A ‘On the day emergencies’ can be better handled by telephone first, ie before you come in—this saves you and the GP clinical care time. Sometimes, the appropriate urgent treatment can only be provided elsewhere, such as a hospital or other specialist care clinic. If you are acutely ill, a telephone call may be easier for you and we can better arrange the appropriate clinical time for you to see the GP.
Q Why can’t the GP address any other medical issues I bring up during my repeat prescription review?
A Prescription reviews are scheduled for a shorter time slot than regular appointments.
Please help us help you and all patients needing to see the GP on the day and let us know beforehand if you have another medical issue you wish to raise. This may require a separate appointment.
Q Why can’t I have a specific time for the GP’s call? It’s so frustrating not to know when they’ll call me back.
A We understand people’s frustration when we can’t give you a specific time.
It’s a complicated issue to resolve and we are working on this with our Patient Participation Group.
Thank you for your patience.
