Enter and view: Churchmere Medical Practice

Healthwatch Shropshire conducted an Enter and View visit to the Churchmere Medical Practice in November 2018. Observations and questionnaires were used to gather feedback from 8 patients/carers and one member of staff.

The observations included that there were clear signs directing patients to the surgery and good wheelchair access. Patients could not be overheard at the reception desk by those in the waiting area. Although, there was no sign indicating the presence of a hearing loop. The noticeboards were full but there was no information about complaints procedure of Patients Group. The majority of patients reported that they were happy with the new arrangements that had been made due to the service merger, despite some issues, such as confusion over telephone numbers. Patients are reported that there were long waiting times to get to the Repeat Prescription Service provided by the CCG. Patients also told the representatives that their communication needs were not being picked up from previous systems on to the new registration system.

A number of recommendations were made by the representatives and included: Organise notice boards to make them clearer and more accessible; Posters to be displayed prominently relating to the availability of the hearing loop, the complaints procedure, and the work of the Patient Group; Provide temporary staff name labels while waiting on the supply of permanent badges; Consideration should be given to ways of improving the consistency of helpfulness of receptionists; Continue to work with the CCG to improve the repeat prescription telephone service; Consider offering an on-line repeat prescription service; and Continue to work towards meeting the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard i.e. to identify all patients with communication needs and provide the means of meeting such needs.

The service provider responded with an action plan addressing the recommendations made in the report.