Week Spot? Review of Access to the 7 Day GP Service
Download (PDF 793.64 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Manchester created this report to provide a review of access to the 7-day GP service currently provided through all GP practices in Manchester. This was identified as a priority due to the high volume of comments and complaints received by the Healthwatch Manchester Office from local people regarding their difficulty in gaining a timely appointment with a GP.
The service review was carried out using the ‘Mystery Shopper’ assessment model and was conducted by Healthwatch Manchester staff and volunteers over a period of 3 months between September and November 2017. They contacted all 87 GP practices in the area.
Six recommendations were made:
1. There is an important and urgent need to ensure all Manchester GP practices fulfil their requirement to offer patients access to the 7-day GP service.
2. When new services such as this are introduced, timely and meaningful provision of support for GP practices is required in order for them to achieve their successful delivery.
3. Information regarding the 7-day GP service should be clearly displayed in practices as a reminder, prompt and awareness raiser for staff and patients. This information should also be available on GP practice websites and their telephone answering service.
4. Training for receptionists in telephone etiquette should be provided and regularly refreshed. All frontline staff should receive regular
training, including updates on information provision. All staff should receive meaningful support and supervision in order to enable maintenance of service quality.
5. Further investigation is required into the wider issues identified by this initial telephone survey. These include service quality issues around callers’ experiences of issues such as politeness, clarity and accuracy of information. There appears to be a huge difference in the quality of service delivery between practices. Training and support provision for frontline staff also requires further investigation.
6. Healthwatch Manchester, as the independent consumer champion for health and social care, needs to either lead or be involved in the above.