TO ALL OF OUR PATIENTS

Dear Patient

General Practice is facing an unprecedented increase in demand for appointments which far outstrips that of even 2 years ago, prior to Covid. We are trying our best to meet the needs of our patients, but, as for every other practice, our ability to meet this demand is limited. Our resources, including that of staff, have not increased.

Throughout the pandemic, we have continued to see patients face to face whenever this has been considered clinically necessary. All staff have worked tirelessly, often giving up their free time, to deliver Covid vaccinations to our patients. These clinics have taken hours to arrange with thousands of telephone calls made and answered in order to manage these effectively. We have put on extra clinics to deal with the backlog of joint injections and other procedures on our waiting list but our capacity to do so is finite.

We are still in the midst of a Covid pandemic with new variants on the horizon. Hopefully, with widespread vaccination the situation will stay under better control. We continue to try and make the Practice as safe as possible for our patients (many of whom are clinically vulnerable) and staff, by maintaining social distancing.

We are grateful to all who have supported us in our endeavors and ask for your understanding of this situation. We are, on the whole, receiving more abusive behaviour and complaints than we have done previously, despite the fact that, as a Practice, we are all trying hard to maintain good quality care in exceptionally difficult times.

Please remember that the Reception team are trying their best to help you. Neither they, the  administrative staff or the clinical staff deserve to be subject to any kind of abusive behaviour.

We ask that you help us help you. Please consider looking after yourself at home, see what local services in the area can help and think about asking a pharmacist for his or her advice.

Thank you

GP Practice staff all around the country are facing unprecedented levels of abuse from patients. The Institute of General Practice Management has released a video to highlight this problem.