This year, the team at Wells Health Centre were absolutely delighted to see in the annual GP Patient Survey that not only did the practice achieve higher results than the national averages, but its reception team achieved a score of 100% for ‘helpfulness of receptionists at a GP practice’.
Given that patients sometimes express concerns over their experiences when dealing with GP receptionists, this is a fantastic achievement especially when the whole of the NHS is under so much pressure.
Karen Polly, Managing Partner at Wells Health Centre (in blue standing up) says,
“Our whole practice works as one team, to make it as easy as possible for patients to access services and our receptionist’s focus is to be as honest, transparent, compassionate, knowledgeable and friendly as we can with our patients. To make it as easy as possible for patients to access care, our receptionists can book routine appointments in with clinical staff at the Practice, throughout the week. And we have on-call GP and paramedics at the practice that our receptionists can access on a daily basis to be able to quickly and easily help patients access clinical advice.
“We understand that the survey results are only a snapshot of the views and opinions of our patients and won`t be everyone`s experience. In order for us to continually review our Practice, we encourage patients to provide feedback via our Friends and Family survey which can be found either on our website or cards in practice.
Dr Bernie Marden, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Somerset says.
“It is great to see the good results that patients at Wells Health Centre reported in this year’s national patient survey. In particular, it is outstanding that 100% of patients surveyed reported that they found the reception team helpful.
The national average result for this question was 82% and our Somerset average was 84%, so this is a great achievement by the team at Wells Health Centre.
Reception teams play an incredibly important role in the delivery of GP services. They are skilled, compassionate and knowledgeable. They work quickly to understand patient needs, signpost them to the best service to help them, and listen to people who are often distressed or anxious, helping to resolve complex problems.
We are hugely grateful to the reception team at Wells Health Centre for their service to patients and the community, and we will be visiting the Health Centre to see what we can learn that may help other practices.”
You can find details of survey and the full survey report here.
Annual GP Patient Survey
Each year NHSE randomly selects a group of patients who are currently registered at a GP surgery in England, inviting them to take part in a survey answering questions about their GP practice.
The survey is conducted independently and only patients who receive an invitation to participate can give their feedback. The latest results have now been published for everyone to see.
This year the team at Wells Health Centre are absolutely delighted to report that not only did the practice achieve higher results than the national and ICB averages their reception team achieved a score of 100%. Given the bad reputation GP receptionists have this is a fantastic achievement especially when the whole of the NHS is under so much pressure.
