At School Lane Surgery, we remain committed to being open about the work taking place behind the scenes every day and sharing how we continue to support our growing patient population.
June was another exceptionally busy month across the practice, with demand increasing in almost every area of the surgery. Our teams answered nearly 7,000 telephone calls, responded to more than 4,700 online requests, processed 34,639 prescription items for over 6,400 patients, and provided an impressive 7,284 appointments.
One of the most encouraging aspects of June’s data is the significant increase in appointments delivered. Compared with May, we provided more than 1,000 additional appointments, helping more patients access the care and advice they needed.
To help even further, I am happy to announce that we have recruited a new GP who will be starting with us in the coming months. GP’s tend to have a three month notice period (as you would expect) so once I have a start date and more information, we will let you know. We are also continuing to recruit for another GP and will hopefully be able to update everyone in due course.
We did also see a rise in those who missed an appointment (DNA’d) to 211. What that does mean is 97.2% of patients did keep their appointments. Of course there are always reasons why an appointment might be missed. Life happens. We get that. As long we try to keep it as low as possible that is our plan!
We also continued to see growing use of our online services, with almost 4,750 online requests submitted during the month. Digital access provides another convenient way for patients to contact the practice and helps ensure requests are directed to the most appropriate member of our team. It also means that those who cannot access online forms find it easier to access help through non digital means.
The only area where we saw a deterioration during June was our average telephone waiting time, which increased from 6 minutes to 10 minutes. This reflects the continued rise in demand, with over 600 additional telephone calls received compared with May. We recognise how important it is for patients to reach us promptly and have recently recruited two additional Receptionists to increase capacity and help improve waiting times over the coming weeks. As soon as we have a start date for them, we will keep you updated.
Our teams also processed almost 35,000 prescription items during the month, highlighting the substantial workload undertaken every day by our prescribing, administrative and clinical teams to ensure patients receive their medication safely and efficiently.
Although the number of missed appointments increased slightly during June, every appointment that is not attended is one that cannot be offered to another patient. We would therefore continue to encourage anyone who no longer needs their appointment to let us know as early as possible so that it can be offered to someone else.
Behind every one of these figures are dedicated members of staff working hard to provide safe, effective and compassionate care. We know there is always more to do, and we continue to review our services, invest in our workforce and look for ways to improve access for our patients.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support School Lane Surgery and for the valuable feedback you provide. It helps us celebrate what is working well while identifying where we can continue to improve.
