Enter and view: Whitehall Medical Practice
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Healthwatch Warwickshire did an announced Enter and View visit to Whitehall Medical Practice on 5th July 2016. The practice is located in a 16 year old purpose built building which is in good condition on the outside but a little tired on the inside.
The Healthwatch Enter and View team found the surgery met almost all their observation criteria.
The electronic screen was due to be replaced. There was a private room available on the side but not advertised to the patients well enough. There was a child friendly play area on both floors and patients would be advised by staff if there was a delay in appointments. The surgery PPG is not active at the moment but in the process of being advertised.
The questionnaire asked the patients attending the surgery about appointments, access, parking, signage, staff attitudes, cleanliness and the quality of care amongst other things. Healthwatch spoke to 37 patients, 19 of which found the surgery appointments booking system to be poor.
The opening hours were not rated that bad but there was room for improvements. The rest of the feedback gave the parking/public transport a very bad rating but the rating for the GP, Nurse and reception staff was mostly good.
The Healthwatch team provided the following recommendations:
- The surgery look into the concerns raised by the patients in respect of the appointment booking system.
- The surgery to notify patients that there are extended hours available for two GPs on a Monday evening as many patients are unaware of this and are currently struggling to make suitable appointments.
- The Practice Manager to look at setting up a Patient Participation Group as a matter of urgency, as it is now a contractual requirement for surgeries to have PPGs.
- The surgery to provide a comments/complaints box for patients as some patients do not necessarily want to make a complaint but may wish to make a comment.
The surgery responded to the recommendation acknowledging they will be working to address the concerns raised.