August may be the height of the summer holiday season, but it was still another busy month at School Lane Surgery.
During the month, our teams:
- Answered 6,206 telephone calls
- Provided 5,826 appointments
- Responded to 4,176 online forms and requests
- Issued 31,729 prescription items
Overall activity was lower than in July, which is likely to reflect the summer holiday period. We also experienced some short-term staff sickness alongside a longer-term absence, which did impact us in August.
Despite these challenges, our teams worked incredibly hard to keep services running and ensure patients continued to receive the care and support they needed.
Our average telephone waiting time was 10 minutes. We know how important it is for patients to be able to reach us promptly, and we are grateful for your patience during periods when staffing levels were affected.
There is positive news for our Reception Team. Our three newest team members are progressing well through their induction and becoming more confident in their roles each week. A thorough induction takes time, particularly in a busy GP surgery, but their progress will help strengthen the team and increase our resilience in the months ahead.
One of the most encouraging figures from August was the reduction in missed appointments. There were 151 appointments that were not attended, compared with 211 in July. That is 60 fewer missed appointments and a reduction of more than 28%.
This means that approximately 97.4% of booked appointments were attended. Thank you to everyone who attended as planned or let us know when an appointment was no longer needed. Cancelling in advance allows us to offer that time to another patient.
We were also delighted that 97% of patients responding to our Friends and Family Test said they would recommend School Lane Surgery. We are extremely grateful for your continued support and for all the feedback we receive. It helps us recognise what is working well while identifying where we can continue to improve.
August also brought a new face to School Lane Surgery, with Dr Kumari joining us as one of our new GPs. She has already started seeing patients and settling into life at the surgery.
We will be sharing a proper introduction to Dr Kumari soon, so watch this space!
