Investigation into access to GP Appointments in Hartlepool finds one size fits all policy “Fundamentally Flawed” according to a report set to go before councillors next week.
Thursday 2nd March 2023 09:23am
Councillors will be told next week that radical overhaul of the towns GP services are now needed following a damming report into the extent of the difficulties some patients are experiencing in trying to obtain a GP appointment.
The report commissioned by Healthwatch Hartlepool found that significant difficulties in patients accessing GP appointments following the COVID-19 pandemic are still prevalent, with improvements urgently required to systems in which patients can contact their GP practice to obtain an appointment.
Many of the problems predated the pandemic.....
Accessing GP services for some is getting "increasingly difficult" according to the report set to go before councillors next week.
In the report that’s set to go before councillors next week, its claimed that a number of the issues relating to difficulties getting GP appointment predated the pandemic with the disabled & those who are working finding it extremely difficult to either contact their GP to make an appointment, or finding that appointment times are well in excess of a week before being seen by a GP.
The report highlighted that patients at Hartlepool's McKenzie House Practice faced the most difficulty in getting a GP Appointment.
The systems simply "not working" for many
Difficulties with patients getting an appointment on a morning is a primary concern in the report
Feedback from the surveys and focus groups highlighted that a “one size fits all” approach to GP appointments is "fundamentally flawed", with patients who work full-time, parents with school age children, patients with caring responsibilities, patients with certain lifelong conditions and disabilities all reporting difficulties in making phone calls to their GP between the hours of 8am and 9.30am when most appointments are allocated for on the day bookings only.
On-line booking was seen as a viable alternative for some, but for others who did not have access to the internet or who had a disability that prevented them from accessing this option…
Some paractices are "ignoring" the requirmeent to make Reasonable Adjustments for some disabled patients....
Failures in practices to make suitable reasonable adjustments for patients who had disabilities & hearing impairments, led to some patients struggling to get appointments at all with the findings of the report overwhelmingly demonstrating that patients wanted GP practices to return to a pre-pandemic routine, with face to face appointments with GP’s returned.
Calls growing for things to go back to the way they were before the pandemic struck.
Amongst a number of recommendations put forward by the report set to go before councillors at the councils Audit & Governance Committee next week it’s said that Patients’ generally recognise that on-line appointments and consultations will have a part to play in future service provision, and in some instances may be the patients preferred method. However, the overwhelming view of patients is that first and foremost, when patient choice is for a face to face appointment, then a face to face consultation should happen.
Comments