We perform our annual patient survey in January each year so have recently completed our survey for 2008. Thank you to all those people who took the time to return the forms to us. The survey is structured into three areas designed to assess both practice performance and how well the clinical staff treat patients. The scores for each area are calculated and then compared to a “benchmark” figure.
The first segment measures overall practice performance such as how easy it is to get an appointment, how well the receptionists treat people and what opening hours we offer. The second part gives detailed feedback for the doctors regarding most aspects of how they treat patients, such as how well they listen, how long they spend with each patient and how caring they are. Finally there is a feedback session for the Practice Nurse assessing her performance with similar questions to those on the doctors.
Results
We are delighted with the results we have achieved this year. We have achieved above the benchmark for every indicator, often by a large margin. We have consistently high marks for our doctor availability and receptions staff performance. Both areas of clinician assessment have been excellent with improvements made from last year.
The only area which showed a significant deterioration since last year was our opening hours score. As a practice we are open from 8 am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. This has been true since the government renegotiated GP contracts three years ago. Unlike some local practices we have no half day closing or early finishes and we offer appointments before 9am and after 5pm every day. As we are a small practice providing additional out of hours appointments is not possible at present however the government have made a commitment to extend hours and there are negotiations to this end ongoing.