THE 2009 GP patients’ survey has shown that the majority of patients are satisfied with Eastleigh Surgery’s performance.
The survey in 2009 was conducted quarterly for the first time, instead of annually, and the recently published results combine the feedback from the first two quarters of the 2009/10 survey between April and September.
Overall, 88 percent of 203 respondees said they were very or fairly satisfied with the care they received at Eastleigh, and no-one said they were dissatisfied.
Debbie Riddiford, Eastleigh practice manager said, “Overall we’re happy that 88 percent of patients felt that they were very or fairly satisfied with us. Now we have to try and win over the other 12 percent.
“There are always areas that we need to look at and try to improve and we are absolutely taking on board what people said.”
Amongst the issues raised by patients in the survey was getting through on the telephone, with 45 percent saying they thought it was very or fairly easy to get through on the phone, compared to 43 percent who said it was not very or not at all easy.
Debbie Riddiford said that the surgery would be looking at ways to speed up answering the phones to patients.
Another issue that came up was confidentiality in the reception area, with 34 percent of those surveyed saying they were not happy that other patients could overhear them at the reception desk.
“That’s obviously a concern to us,” admitted Debbie Riddiford. “It’s a little difficult because of the layout of the reception which we can’t do a whole lot about, but we have started playing music to try and change that. We will also look at the layout of the room itself, perhaps moving chairs and getting other patients to stand back from the reception desk.
“We will also be making staff very aware of it and letting them know there is always the option of taking someone to one side for a confidential word.”
Additionally, despite 76 percent of patients reporting that they were very or fairly satisfied with the opening hours, 63 percent also said they would like to see the surgery open at additional times, particularly on a Saturday.
Debbie Riddiford said, “We realised we actually already provide that service to our patients. We run four evening sessions a week, and we also open every other Saturday morning. I think perhaps we need to make sure our patients are aware that they can be seen at these times.”
She added that the surgery was particularly pleased that 95 percent of patients said that they found the receptionists very or fairly helpful, and also that 67 percent of patients saw the doctor of their choice ‘almost always’, or ‘a lot of the time’.
She said, “We’re pleased about that because we recognise that continuity of care is important to patients. We’ve been trying hard for that and it’s not always easy when trying to meet appointment time targets.
Across the county, Wiltshire’s practices bettered the national average in the GP Patient Access Survey with 94 percent of patients reporting overall satisfaction with the care they get from the GPs and their teams.
Alison Knowles, director of strategy and communication at NHS Wiltshire said, “We’re really pleased with these results. GPs and their teams work really hard to deliver a high standard of care to patients.
“Over the last year, we’ve extended the opening hours at every GP surgery and improved the out of hours service in the evening and at weekends.
“These survey results show that Wiltshire people receive an excellent service from their family doctors. We’ll continue to work collaboratively with the practices to ensure the very best for Wiltshire patients”.
You can view the results of the GP Patient Access Survey by visiting: http://results.gp-patient.co.uk/report/main.aspx.
