Dear Patient
I would be very grateful indeed if you would complete this survey based on your experience at our surgeries. The doctors, nurses and administration team all want to provide the highest standard of service and care. Feedback from this survey will help them to identify areas that may need improvement.
Your opinions are very valuable. Please answer ALL the questions that apply to you. There are no right or wrong answers and we will NOT be able to identify your individual answers. Finally please add any comments or suggestions in the box near the end of the survey - this is often where the most valuable ideas and improvements come from!
1. We currently book appointments up to six weeks in advance. Our experience is that appointments booked further ahead are more likely to not be attended by patients or we will have to reschedule them due to doctors/nurses not being available as originally planned. How far ahead do you think we should book?
2. Would you like us to text your mobile with a reminder the day before your appointment?
3. We provide appointments between 8.30am and 6.30pm five days a week (our contracted hours with the NHS). Recent surveys show 86% of our patients are satisfied with our opening hours.
For the last two years we have allocated some of the earliest and some of the latest appointments as “commuter” slots. We have generally found these to be unused or booked by people that are able to attend between 9-5. Should we continue with our “commuter” slots?
4. Do you have any suggestions how we could make our services more available for our patients, bearing in mind that the NHS now contracts with us 8.00am to 6.30pm five days a week?
5. We currently have a system where patients leave a message for a doctor to call them back when the doctor is available. Would you like to be able to book a specific time for a telephone conversation (telephone appointment) with a doctor?
6. In your recent experience, would you have liked to speak to a doctor or a nurse practitioner early in the morning to advise you about your problem (avoiding the need to attend the surgery) or to confirm that you need an appointment?
7. In your recent experience, how did you feel about the length of time you had to wait to have a blood test?
8. How do you feel our repeat medication service works?
Please describe your experience of any problems you have had with our repeat medication service and any recommendations you have for improvements we could make.
9. One patient identified the difficulties and disruption caused by bringing sick (and other well) children into the surgery. Do you have any suggestions how we could organise ourselves differently to help these parents and other patients sharing the waiting room?
10. In your recent experience, would being given written information or advice about where to find information at a consultation have helped you? This might be information about a diagnosis, referral or test.
What information would have been helpful?
11. In your recent experience, would being able to contact the surgery for written information or advice about where to find information have helped you? This might be information about a diagnosis, referral or test.
What information would have been helpful?
12. How often do you look at our website (not including appointments on-line or repeat medication requests on-line)?
Do you have any comments about our website including any ways it could be improved?
13. How often do you appointments on-line?
Do you have any comments about appointments on-line including any ways it could be improved?
14. How often do you use repeat medication requests on-line?
Do you have any comments about repeat medication requests on-line including any ways it could be improved?
15. Please add any other comments, suggestions or ideas in the box below.
Thank you
Finally, to help us analyse your answers please tell us a few things about yourself: 16. Which surgery do you usually attend?
17. Are you male or female?
18. What age are you?
19. What is the ethnic background with which you most identify?
20. How would you describe how often you come to the surgery?
Many thanks for taking the time to complete this survey. We will be collecting and analysing the results and working with members of the Practice Patient Reference Group to decide what action we can take and how we can improve.
The results of the survey and a report on what we plan to do next will be published on our website, in our newsletter and in our waiting room in due course. Regards Sue Igglesden, Practice Manager