Apologies and patient information from DMC

[DMC Healthcare]

We would like to apologise to any patients who experienced a delay in getting access to their GP last week. This was due to unseasonal high demand and doctor absence due to unexpected sickness.

Please be assured that measures are now in place to support this demand. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to you.

We now have two prescribing Pharmacists and one junior making a total of three pharmacists who are onsite daily and can see patients for the following: Hypertension, Diabetes , COPD and Spirometry, Asthma, smoking cessation, Influenza vaccines, NHS health checks, contraception and minor aliments advice. They also deal with daily queries with medication from patients and local pharmacies.

The service provided by pharmacists is new to DMC and it is available to all patients. We have received very positive feedback and you do not have to see a GP where your condition may be of a minor issue and could be handled by a pharmacist.

Please help us to help you in such circumstances.

For all those patients on long term medication or requiring repeat prescriptions please sign up to the Electronic Prescribing Service (EPS) If you require a nomination form please email the practice on [email protected] and the forms are also available via reception This will save the practice and patients a lot of time once you have nominated your prescriptions to go to a pharmacy.

I?m sorry to report that approximately 10% of appointments each week are where patients DO NOT ATTEND. Last month this was 219 appointments wasted.

We now have a new check-in screen in the waiting room to register your arrival and enter personal clinical data about yourself. There is, as I?m sure you are aware a problem with appointments, both routine and urgent, in the NHS.

In South Southwark there is a new federated approach to practices? appointments and access to GP services. Please be prepared to discuss your condition, briefly over the phone if you feel the need to be seen on the day of your call. A doctor will call you back and assess your needs accordingly.

For many types of check-ups, screening and health advice one of the practice nurses can also help you. Please click on the Other Clinicians tab on the website to see what they cover. If you are calling for test results please call after 3.00 pm.

When demand on the phone lines is very high, usually early mornings, please note that you can pre-book appointments on the patient access at https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk Once you have registered and have your log in, you will need to provide the practice with your ID to complete the process.

You can also email to us directly at [email protected] for appointments or any query regarding DMC Crystal Palace Road.

There is additional GP cover from week commencing 16 February and we are in the process of recruiting an additional GP and a Community Psychiatric Nurse.

We do encourage all patients to give us as much feedback as possible to improve patient contact with DMC Crystal Palace Road with current services. We can assure you that every effort will be made to ensure that any contact you have with our services in the future will prove to be satisfactory

[Earl Aelfheah]

DMC Healthcare Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We do encourage all patients to give us as much

> feedback as possible to improve patient contact

> with DMC Crystal Palace Road with current

> services. We can assure you that every effort will

> be made to ensure that any contact you have with

> our services in the future will prove to be

> satisfactory

May I suggest that you take down the huge banner outside your surgery advertising for more patients and encouraging them to register. It's a bit insulting to all those queued up next to it hoping to be seen by a Dr, when the chances are that they'll be referred to the Peckham drop in centre.

[DMC Healthcare]

Thanks for your comment. Everything here is being noted and we're taking action.

[Cedges]

I've actually generally had excellent help from your surgery but I have tried to register for the online booking service before and when I tried to speak with your receptionists about this, they looked at me like with was talking Klingon and had 3 heads!

Is is worth me bothering to try again?

Also, how often is the email account checked, I have also tried to book appointments this was in the past but received no response whatsoever.

I appreciate that you are trying to engage with patients via this forum.

Many thanks.

[Indiana]

'I?m sorry to report that approximately 10% of appointments each week are where patients DO NOT ATTEND. Last month this was 219 appointments wasted'

This might be due to the fact that the earliest appointments you offer are 4 - 6 weeks ahead?

I left DMC over 18 months ago due to the inability to ever get through or get an appointment. You refer to there being problems in the NHS in obtaining appointments, though my new surgery (also in SE22) has none of your problems. Perhaps they are more concerned with patient care than registering new patients and making even more money?

[LumpenProle]

Hi

Does DMC have a patient participation group? Please see the following from the RCGP

http://www.gowerplacepractice.nhs.uk/help/rcgp_iyp_full_booklet_web_version.pdf

Would it be helpful to set up and facilitate a patient group? This will give people something to do other than simply moan. By getting the views of patients when designing your services, you can improve perceived quality. You can also use a patient group to help define what can reasonably be demanded of your services.

Do let's use this thread to get constructive about how your users can help you deliver a better service.

[Jeremy]

Compulsory "confirm"/"cancel" replying for everyone registered with the SMS service?

[Cora]

They do have a PPG but despite a real effort by some it doesn't seem to have much influence.

[binary_star]

Last week??

Delusional...

[bikpon]

I don't think the problem is just last week!

I have had trouble making appointments for my baby to see a doctor at DMC CPR quite a few times over the last few months. In order to get through to the receptionist I have had to redial the phone number 80-90 times starting from the surgery opening time (luckily my phone does this for me!)only to be told there were no appointments available when I finally got through. This is despite me telling the receptionist that I was concerned about the health of an infant.

One of these times I later took my daughter to Seldoc where she was diagnosed with a serious infection requiring antibiotics and another time we ended up in A&E where she was diagnosed with preseptal cellulitis, a potentially sight-threatening condition. Both times I tried to make an appointment to see a GP at DMC but there were no appointments available. This last happened in January 2015 so unless the protocols have changed in the last few weeks I can't see how the 'new approach' improves access to a doctor.

Perhaps reserving a few appointments for vulnerable patients (infants, the elderly etc) and having a more effective triage system may help with the allocation of these appointments. In the mean time I am looking for a new GP to register my daughter at as I don't feel I can rely upon DMC.

[Cora]

bikpon please take the time out to forward this to the complaint email listed by James Barber in the other thread...this suggests a dangerous level of service.

[hpsaucey]

Cedges Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've actually generally had excellent help from

> your surgery but I have tried to register for the

> online booking service before and when I tried to

> speak with your receptionists about this, they

> looked at me like with was talking Klingon and had

> 3 heads!

>

> Is is worth me bothering to try again?

>

> Also, how often is the email account checked, I

> have also tried to book appointments this was in

> the past but received no response whatsoever.

>

> I appreciate that you are trying to engage with

> patients via this forum.

>

> Many thanks.

I'll second this. I asked a while ago about registering to book online and got the same blank response. I've just tried this evening at the link given and all I get is error messages and to come into the surgery to register. I'm hoping they will know what it is this time...

HP

[ednewmy]

(Copied and pasted this from the other thread about DMC)

"a delay in getting access to their GP last week"

Last week? Pull the other one! I've been registered with DMC Crystal Palace Road since 2011 and it's always been virtually impossible to get an appointment within a sensible time frame. At best you're offered one in about a month's time, at worse you're told there are none to give out and to call back at another time.

There have been a couple of occasions during this time where I've been particularly unwell - unwell enough to be in need of a GP appointment that day to ensure that nothing too sinister is going on. The kind of appointment that would detect something serious in time before it developed, worsened, and resulted in a trip to hospital, at more expense to the NHS.

It feels almost absurd to say that I was relieved that one of these occasions was at the weekend, as it meant I could be seen by SELDOC who provide a service that is out of this world amazing compared to the appalling state of affairs at DMC. The other occassion DMC had nothing for weeks, by which time it would be way too late. So I'm afraid to say I just waited til the evening and contacted SELDOC who saw me within a few hours and investigated everything the way I would have expected my GP to about 10 hours earlier. I felt like a burden on SELDOC, but frankly I was at a loss as to what else to do, and wasn't going to go to A&E.

Frankly with the way DMC operates, it's enough to make you feel that the GP Service is no longer part of the service offered through the NHS. It's so difficult to get an appointment within a sensible time frame (or even within a ludicrous time frame) that it feels like the NHS is only there in times of dire dire need, which may start to happen more often if patients can't see a GP who can detect things early that may one day present themselves as a major problem.

(Think I will copy and paste this rant to the NHS. Sorry it's so long and well done to anyone who managed to read it all - I tend to go on a bit!)

[Convex]

DMC is shocking. They have some good doctors there but it's a total lottery as to whether you can get an appointment.

IT feels like you are at the mercy of the receptionists.

They should not be accepting new patients, until they can adequately service the ones they have.

[Administrator]

I'm going to lock this thread as the main message has also been posted on another on-going thread about the DMC.

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1472098,1475259