Westgate Medical Practice Patient Engagement Day
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Healthwatch Lancashire summarises feedback collected from 30 patients during Patient Engagement Days held at Westgate Medical Practice in July 2016. The aim of the visits was to gather patient views on access to services, quality of care, and awareness of patient involvement opportunities.
The practice is a GP surgery in Morecambe with over 8,000 registered patients, offering weekday services with extended hours on Thursdays and various online functions such as appointment booking and prescription requests.
Overall, the findings highlight that access to appointments was the main concern for patients. Most patients booked appointments by phone, and none reported using the online booking system, largely because they were unaware of it, did not want to use it, or lacked computer access.
Many patients found it difficult to obtain same-day or urgent appointments, with long telephone waiting times being a common issue. Some reported waiting up to an hour to get through on the phone, and others described waiting several weeks for routine appointments.
Patients were generally satisfied with the location and accessibility of the practice, and most found the opening hours convenient, although some suggested that extended or weekend hours would be beneficial.
In terms of care quality, most patients reported being happy with the staff and felt that they were listened to during appointments. The majority also found the information provided by clinicians helpful and were satisfied with the overall care they received.
However, continuity of care was a concern, as some patients reported difficulty seeing the same GP consistently, which affected their experience.
Awareness of the Patient Participation Group was low, with most patients unaware of its existence and not interested in joining.
In response to these findings, the practice acknowledged issues around access, staffing, and appointment availability, and stated that improvements were planned through a merger with another medical group, recruitment of more GPs, and better promotion of online booking.