Template:Courier-OCT-25-15

WAITING TIMES CUT FOR ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS

Capelfield patients have been hearing how adjustments to the Surgery's triage system have reduced waiting times for routine appointments. The September meeting of the Patient Participation Group was told that under the triage system all appointment requests are assessed by a doctor to ensure they are matched to the most appropriate time-frame, clinician or resource, according to clinical need.

The Group also discussed the dissatisfaction felt by patients due to a lack of continuity of care by a particular doctor. It was acknowledged that this is not ideal but hard to address, given the chronic lack of funding to general practices, the increased GP workload, the need for clinical triage, rising expertise of other healthcare workers, the need to train junior doctors and GPs' part time working.

Patients are, however, encouraged to request their preferred doctor for routine conditions and follow up appointments.

A majority of Capelfield patients have the NHS app installed on their mobile phone but only one in four are using it to its full potential. For example, patients can view their individual health record on the app. The Surgery is urging patients to use the NHS app for requesting repeat prescriptions, rather than using the website, to minimise administration time spent by the Surgery in manually transferring the website requests into the clinical system.

In a recent National GP survey of patient views, Capelfield exceeded the national average for satisfaction levels across the board. The full results can be viewed on the Capelfield website in Edition 3 of the Practice Newsletter, towards the bottom of its home page.

Patients attending the last meeting all wished to thank the Capelfield receptionists for providing a warm reassuring welcome to the practice. Patient Participation Group meetings are open to all Capelfield patients and provide a forum for residents to be updated, give feedback and ask questions about how the Surgery is operating. The goal of meetings is to enhance the effectiveness of provision for patients by increasing understanding of how it works, and ensuring good communication of the patient perspective.

Minutes of PPG meetings can be found on the Capelfield website under the "About Us" tab under the heading "PPG" All Capelfield patients are warmly invited to the next meeting on Wednesday January 28 at 6.300m at the Surgery.

• The October Quiz Night of the Friends of Capeifield, has had to be postponed due to a clash of dates. The Quiz Night is now booked for Friday April 24 2026.