What you said about access to GP services for children and young people
The results of the survey were mixed. Most parents said that they were satisfied with the appointments but accessing the appointments in the first place was more difficult. In particular they said they had to wait a long time on the telephone to get through to their GP practice.
Recommendations from Healthwatch
Telephone systems at GP practices need to be improved to make it easier for people to get through and to give patients a better experience of contacting their practice
The ICB and GP practices need to increase access to online services to provide an alternative to patients contacting their GP practice by phone. The local NHS also needs to educate patients about online access and build people’s trust and confidence in switching to booking appointments online.
What we are doing to improve GP access
The primary care team at the integrated care board considered the feedback from the survey and the resulting recommendations from both Healthwatch organisations.
Our ‘digital primary care programme’ is working to improve patients’ access to GP services and to improve patients’ experience.
- We have been supporting GP practices to access national funding to upgrade their telephone systems. In addition to the 62 GP practices in our area that already have advanced telephony systems, a further 26 practices will have moved onto advanced systems by the end of April 2024. An important feature of the new telephone systems is that patients can ask for a call back rather than having to wait in a queue,
- We are promoting the NHS App as a way of accessing services, including telling people about improvements to the NHS App. Numbers of patients logging onto the NHS app have increased by nearly 8%. The number of repeat prescriptions ordered through the NHS App has increased by over 33,000 over the last year.
- We have been auditing GP practice websites to look at how patient friendly they are. This includes seeing how easy it is for patients to find information or access services online. The audit will inform future work to support practices in improving their website where needed.
As well as improving digital access for patients, the ICB is also working to make sure that patients with minor illnesses are signposted to their local pharmacy to help free up GP appointments.
“Our research showed that many parents and carers were struggling to access GP services for their child, or the young person they cared for. We welcome the initiatives being undertaken by the ICB to improve access and we will be monitoring these to ensure people’s concerns are addressed and local families consistently receive high quality care.”
Steve Palmer, Chair, Healthwatch Hertfordshire