What you are about to see is a short video that has been put together by the Institute of General Practice Management to highlight the abuse that practice staff are currently receiving throughout the country and unfortunately here at Silloth Group Medical Practice on a daily basis. We operate a Zero Tolerance policy at this practice and as such this behaviour will not be accepted. The staff have been working tirelessly under immense pressure during the pandemic to deliver the best service that we possibly can whilst also vaccinating the majority of our patients not once but twice. Patient contact has also risen by over 20% since the pandemic began and we can assure you that we are not closed and are working harder than ever before to keep up with demand.
Following NHS England guidelines we have had to adapt our appointment system in order to keep our most vulnerable patients and staff safe. This involves all patients being triaged by telephone initially followed by an arranged face to face appointment if this is deemed clinically appropriate. We understand only too well how frustrating it is that our patients have to ring the surgery each day in order to book a telephone appointment and that these appointments can go very quickly. On the day appointments are for acute problems only that need to be dealt with that same day. Any routine health problems that are not urgent should be booked into a pre-bookable afternoon telephone appointment. Please bear in mind that Monday is our busiest day and if your problem can wait it would be helpful to get in touch on another day of the week. Telephone consultations can also be booked on line via the GP Access or NHS app. Our next bookable online appointment as of today is 4 working days. You can also contact your GP via On Line Consult on our website but please be aware that this is for non-urgent queries only and may take up to 48 hours to receive a reply. It would also be helpful to us if you could explain to the receptionist the nature of your call as you can then be signposted to the best service to help you. Some conditions/ailments can be treated by a pharmacist as not all patients need to see a GP and advice is also available from 111 and our website.
We would also like to remind our patients that as this is a healthcare setting it is still necessary to continue to wear a face mask when attending the surgery and to use the hand sanitiser provided. Patients must not attend the surgery if displaying any form of Covid symptoms.
Please be kind to our staff – they are doing a tremendous job and are here to help you. Thank you for your time to read this message.
Silloth Group Medical Practice
