A feedback from a patient of my GP surgery:- Royal Arsenal Medical Centre a rating of 1 stars. Designed to stop people getting any care at all The practice has created a new system that is clearly designed to stop patients accessing medical care. Firstly, you ring the appointments line and have to explain what is wrong with you to a receptionist - an unqualified administrator who is discussing your problem with you in an open plan office for all, including patients in the waiting area, to hear. Secondly, if the receptionist finds it important enough, you may get a call back from a doctor who will discuss your symptoms with you and then decide if you are worthy of an appointment that day - so you have to keep the day free just in case, whether you get an appointment of not. So basically, you have to make yourself available three times at their convenience (unless you want to discuss your illness on a crowded train, or in your open plan office, or in the queue at Sainsburys) rather than simply making an appointment. This system is worthy of a Monty Python sketch - it certainly totally fails to consider the most important people in this system: the patient. How does it work for people who dont have English as a first language? How can it work for people who cant take time off on the day for an appointment? How does it work for the frail elderly who might need a family member to bring them in? How does it work for people with cognitive impairment or a learning disability? Is this how the GPs deal with calls from local nursing homes?? This system represents a fundamental failure to treat patients with dignity or respect, to involve them in decisions about them, or to gain access to care when the need it. Instead it is the perfect system if you wanted to make A&E patients’ first port of call. I called to complain about this direct to the practice but was unable to get any interest. Visited in June 2014. Posted on 17 June 2014
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 18:34:51 +0000
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