Care Opinion

Medication Request and appointment

Posted By Anonn1

"Medication Request and appointment"

About: The Lawson Practice

(as a service user),

I ordered my medication using the online request form as the item was not part of the repeat list.  This item was already requested along with my normal medication in April, but for some reason this was not issued. I received a SMS message telling me that I need to have a review before the medication can be issued.

 I went to patient access to book an appointment. The only appointments on offer and with the HCA is in June.  Prior to today, I had already tried to book an appointment, with my GP, or with any GP, but no appointments were on offer, and I don't know when appointments get released,  I tried different times of the day, on different days, for another health issue. 40 minutes later and I was still on the phone, I am still waiting to speak to the Reception Team, while listening to message telling me system has changed; to beat the system I should register and use online system.

Eventually I spoke to someone who tried to tell me that I need to speak with my GP, who is next here on Tuesday.  I told them that I need my medication urgently.  What I didn't tell them was that I had already requested this item back in April.  They wanted me to call back after 12.30 to speak with the emergency doctor.  My problem is that if I ring at 12.30 and if I have to wait another 45minutes, then the lines will be shut as the Surgery Closes at 1pm.  

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Responses

Response from Deborah Colvin, GP, The Lawson Practice, The Lawson Practice 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Deborah Colvin
GP, The Lawson Practice,
The Lawson Practice

Submitted on 26/05/2022 at 15:07
Published on Care Opinion at 15:34

You are right, this is not acceptable. We have become aware of how difficult things are getting for patients and it is a symptom of the increasing pressure on primary care with increasing demand and falling capacity due to the workforce situation in primary care.

We are working on trying to stop patients going round and round in the way that you have described and I apologise on behalf of the practice for the frustration you must be experiencing.

In the meantime the best thing to do is for you to send us an email via the email service we use for patients and explain what you need and why. We will then respond to you. This way of access is probably the most reliable at the moment.

Apologies again.

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Response from Deborah Colvin, GP, The Lawson Practice, The Lawson Practice 2 years ago
We have made a change
Deborah Colvin
GP, The Lawson Practice,
The Lawson Practice

Submitted on 28/07/2022 at 17:27
Published on Care Opinion on 29/07/2022 at 07:12

Hello, just to let you know that we have introduced a new system to try and stop the situation you describe above. We have only just started it and it will take a little time to bed in but I hope that next time you try to ring, even if there are no appointments left, you won't have to keep trying to ring.

You should no longer be told to call back. Fingers crossed you will be less stressed out trying to contact us going forward.

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