Priority Areas

PRIORITY AREAS ACTION NEEDED TARGET DATE OUTCOMES 1. Appointments System a) Divulging sensitive a) Receptionist training in use of information to receptionists. language when asking for sensitive  There is a now a sign in reception to invite patients to information March 2015 request greater privacy if needed. b) Receptionists to explain to patients why the information is important  Signposting educational session run with Dr Bethell, myself and Reception team - April 2015

 Reception ‘script’ developed with the team for use as an educational tool for new & existing staff b) Dislike of lack of choice of a) Review and change appointments appointments types model to include a combination and  The initial Telephone call only system has been choice of patient bookable face to Mid February reviewed and now includes both Telephone calls and face appointments and telephone 2015 face to face appointments that can be booked by consultations. patients. Both are needed to satisfy a variety of differing patient circumstances and needs. c) General dissatisfaction with a) Positive promotion of the revised the appointment system. appointment system within our April 2015  Station House surgery website carries clear information patient population and Kendal. about types of appointments available. The surgery is getting much more positive feedback since the last review of the system. d) Waiting time for GP to a) Reduce the number of patient return call telephone calls made by the GP per Mid February  GP telephone calls reduced from 10 to 8 per hour hour to improve call back times. 2015 session to improve predicted call back times.

2. Telephone System a) Dislike of queuing time a) Monitor patient call queuing times before call answered via telephone system software.  Messages have been shortened and made more succinct – final changes made July 2015 b) Review possible solutions: February 2015 i. Current queuing messages  Reception team fully staffed – March 2015, telephone with a view to simplifying answering data is showing improvement. Demand is and shortening message. always difficult to predict so we are working towards having spare capacity within the system. This includes ii. Staffing levels at peak times increasing efficiency through use of IT, possible creation of a Bank of staff, signposting of patients to other relevant services.

Telephone Data – (data averaged)

January – March 15  90% of calls are answered  78% are answered within 90 secs  7% call abandoned >90 secs