Keith Health Centre
Turner Street, Keith, AB55 5DJ
Telephone: 0345 337 9944 | Prescriptions: 01542 881001
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Winter Wellbeing Sessions Available Review of our appointment system Festive Opening Hours 2024 Antibiotic Amnesty Unused medicine – the costs in NHS Grampian Vacancy for Salaried GP
Review of our appointment system
As we are all too aware, the waiting time for routine appointments in general practice has grown considerably in recent years, and Keith Health Centre has certainly not been immune to this issue. At Keith we have been running at 4 weeks plus for a routine appointment, although obviously patients with more pressing conditions will be seen sooner through our triage system. We, like our patients, are not happy with the status quo. We are very conscious of the pressure this backlog puts on everyone, including clinicians and admin staff, but especially on patients, and all of us are patients requiring medical advice and assistance at some time.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect system. Having spoken to many other practices, both locally and further afield about how they work things, all of them say the same thing – they are struggling with the same problem.
There are countless reasons for the shortage of GP appointments, most of which you will already be tired of hearing on the national news. For Keith Health Centre, some of the issues are as follows:
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Lack of success to date in recruiting a new GP to replace our retired GP Partner
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Long waiting lists in secondary care increasing pressure on general practice
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Unrealistic expectations of some patients.
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NHS cutbacks
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Ever increasing demand for appointments, often for self-limiting and short-lived complaints
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Massive increase in administrative workload in recent years
These factors and our current system have resulted in:
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Lack of equity for our patients – those who shout loudest get seen first
- Patients having to phone multiple times to try to get an appointment
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Increased pressure and stress on administrative staff,
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Pressure on clinical team
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Diminishing job satisfaction
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Increase in patient complaints and grumbles
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Increased number of “missed appointments” as people feel better before appointment date/forget the date and time.
Despite this, there are some positives:
- The NHS Pharmacy First Plus Scotland now being offered at Clarks Pharmacy and Bairds Pharmacy in Keith has made a real difference over the past few months. We are currently about to assist in the training of another pharmacist from Clarks as they work towards their prescribing qualification. Pharmacy First Plus is a walk-in or phone ahead service that allows community pharmacies to provide expert assistance in treating conditions such as sore throats (including acute tonsilitis), sinusitis, earaches, and cold sores, as well as urinary tract infections (UTIs), skin infections, shingles and migraine. Pharmacy teams offer advice, treatment, or referral to other healthcare professionals if necessary. This service helps people access the appropriate care in the right location, eliminating the need to visit their GP practice or local Accident and Emergency Department for non-urgent treatment.
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We still have a very skilled and commited clinical team at Keith, and are actively looking to recruit another GP.
Implementing any form of change to an established system is never easy and there are no guarantees of improvement. However, we feel that we need to try to improve access for our patients if at all possible. There is no ideal time to stop using one system and start using another, but we agreed that we will operate a triage system over the 2 weeks of the festive period, with all clinicians involved in triage and all having “on the day” appointments. For this reason, there are currently no routine appontments bookable by admin staff or patients. Admin staff will continue to be asked to signpost patients to the pharmacy, NHS 24, A&E, dentist, optician, First Contact Physio as per our current system, but clinically appropriate requests will be added to the triage system and then assessed by clinicians and allocated an appropriate appointment for your needs.
Going into the New Year we then aim to have pre-bookable slots only 2 weeks ahead. First of all, this should be a more acceptable waiting time, and it will hopefully bring down the number of wasted appointments. If your condition cannot wait until the next routine slot, you will be added to the triage system. The duty team will be able to access appointments further ahead if this is what is deemed appropriate.
This is a work in progress, and we will have to fine tune things as we go on. It is also a trial and if it does not improve things, we may have to revert to the status quo. However, we would ask everyone to get behind this trial to see if we can make the system better for everyone – patients, clinicians, pharmacy and admin staff.
Thank you in advance for your patience!
Opening Times
- Monday
08:00am to 06:00pm - Tuesday
08:00am to 06:00pm - Wednesday
08:00am to 06:00pm - Thursday
08:00am to 06:00pm - Friday
08:00am to 06:00pm - Saturday
CLOSED - Sunday
CLOSED
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