January Friends and Family Feedback: areas for improvement and actions

We recently published just a very small sample of the lovely feedback we received in the January Friends and Family survey.

We were pleased that several hundred comments were very positive, but there were a handful of comments highlighting what we could do better. Here are the comments highlighting areas for improvement and what we have done:

Feedback: One patient’s experience was rated as poor as they report that we did not have an appropriately sized blood pressure cuff to check their blood pressure and that they’d therefore had to return to the surgery another time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this.

Action Taken: We have a range of cuffs available, from paediatric to large. We have sent an email to all clinical staff to ensure they know where these can be found to prevent a similar issue from arising in the future.

Feeback: One patient reported “second time for blood test as first lost. Receptionist made me wait and just carried on typing

Action: Once bloods are taken by our phlebotomist they are put straight into the collections bag and are taken by the hospital courrier. The bloods are then taken and sorted at the RBH and often then sent on to another hospital lab (including Wexham park and Frimely). It is therefore extremely difficult for us to investigate and determine exactly where a blood sample may have been lost. We will however document further incidents and monitor for any trends, reporting them to the pathology services as needed.

Our receptionists may sometimes be in the middle of a task when a patient arrives at the front desk. Interruptions mid-task are often when mistakes happen and therefore it is appropriate for receptionists to complete their task before starting a new one, such as checking a patient in. We would however hope that our receptionists would acknowledge a patient arriving with a nod, and perhaps a brief comment to say they’ll be with the patient in a moment, as soon as possible. This aspect of customer service will be on the agenda to discuss at the next reception team meeting.

Feedback: Two patients reported a poor experience with the practice due to a delay in a medication or prescription being issued from the date of the request.

Action: We are aware that on some occasions that is a delay in excess of the 5 days we ask for. We are due to carry out an in depth analysis to identify the various causes of delays in the process and how we can rectify them. As soon as we can, we will share our findings and any changes we have made as a result.

Thanks to all our patients for their valuable feedback. It’s with this feedback that we can learn and strive to continually improve.