Patient feedback on Podiatry Foot Health Service, Islington
Download (PDF 851.89 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Islington in August and September 2016 visited each of the 7 health centres in the area who offer podiatry, and talked to 33 service users about their experiences. This piece of work was carried out on the back of previous knowledge of long waiting time for podiatry services in the local area and challenges getting through to the centralised booking system.
The main findings within the report included:
• Praise for the staff and service
• Appointments mainly run to time
• Problems with appointment letters
• Difficult to cancel at short notice
• Waits between appointments are getting longer
• The appointment booking process is not managed consistently.
The recommendations made within the report included:
• The system by which podiatry appointment letters are sent out needs to be reviewed and improved.
• Health centre reception staff should be able to book in podiatry appointments for patients, in the same way that they do for physiotherapy clinics.
• In centres without a health centre receptionist, the podiatrist should be able to book the appointment.
• The podiatry appointment system should allow for cancellations at short notice.
• Cancelled appointments can then be offered to others, so that they don’t go to waste.
There was no response from commissioners or providers within the report.