Clarendon Surgery have picked up a prestigious ‘Spirit of Salford Award’ for ‘Innovation in Primary Care’ for their dynamic work to tackle the issue of GP access.
The GP surgery, which is based within Pendleton Gateway, acknowledged the frustrations that many patients were facing by not being able to see their GP and introduced a new system that has proven a huge success.
They identified that with 100 appointments being taken within the first 20 minutes of opening, this left many patients unable to speak to or see a GP on the day. To tackle this issue they have introduced a new telephone appointment system that has revolutionised how they treat their patients and improved satisfaction significantly.
Sixty per cent of patients did not actually need to visit their practice to have their complaint dealt with, and could be managed over the phone. For any patients that were insistent on seeing a GP, they would need to speak to the GP over the phone first. Patients that now visit the surgery either have issues that are quick and simple to resolve, or have more complex issues that could not be resolved over the phone. Between 80 – 90 per cent of patients are now seen on the same day and around 90 per cent of patients are called back in under 55 minutes.
Dr Jeremy Tankel, a GP at Clarendon Surgery and clinical lead for quality and safety at NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group, said:
“Staff no longer have to say ‘no’ to patients. They no longer have to say ‘we have no appointments, call back tomorrow’. You can hear the surprise in people’s voices when you say would you like to come in for an appointment today. But it’s not just about satisfaction.
“I’ve got no doubts that a telephone appointment system is a safe system. When you compare it to a system where you can’t get through to a doctor at all and therefore care is being ‘rationed’ by non-accessibility; I don’t believe that is a safe system.
“Personally I think we’re now offering a better service.”
Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, said:
“When people go the extra mile we should say thank you. The Spirit of Salford awards are recognition of this, and recognise the people in our city who have done this. Well done Dr Tankel and the team at Clarendon Surgery.”
