Dear LPG,

I went to the doctor last week about something unrelated and, while I was there, I made an appointment to see the nurse.  I then returned home and had hardly managed to get my coat off before I received a telephone call from the Surgery.  The receptionist informed me that the nurse would not be available for the appointment I had just made.  She told me that another appointment would be arranged and the details of the deferred appointment would be forthcoming. 

The original appointment was scheduled for early next week and I have heard nothing more from the GP surgery which left me thinking that I should contact them and find out if a new appointment had been made.  

I tried the telephone first and phoned three times, each time spending some 15 minutes listening to a continuous ringing tone. So I thought it would be a good idea to text them.  It occurred to me that whenever I have an appointment they remind me by text. But when I found a text from them the last bit of information informed that the text was automatic and patients can’t send a text back.  I then remembered that my friend who lives in another part of Lewisham borough, helped me to register for the online Patient Access site.  He visited the next day and I got him to help me to prepare a message to send to the practice in that way, but when we signed in, we found that my practice does not allow patients to send messages online, even though his does.

This leaves me having to make a trip to my surgery to convey a message,  although I had already made arrangements.  I think this unfair.

As is usual, I waited quite some time when I visited the surgery last week and spent the time observing the messages and other information which are on display.  My attention was taken by a chart which stated that 110 appointments were missed during the last month.  It went on to ask that patients who know they will have to cancel contact the surgery giving as much notice as possible.  The flaw is that there is no way for a patient to do this but by telephone, and their telephone lines are always busy. 

Is it fair to expect patients, who after all need to see a doctor because they are unwell, to visit the surgery in order to cancel their appointment? Is the message they are sending us that if you can’t get to your appointment you will have to visit anyway in order to tell the practice that you cannot attend? Are patients expected to wait in long Doctor’s surgery receptionist queues, just to be able to inform of their need to cancel an appointment. I have to admit to having a little trouble working out the logic here.

I have little doubt that next months missed appointment stats will be equally as high as the ones on the wall at the moment, but I now have to question whose fault that really is. In the meantime I am no wiser as to when I might be able to have an appointment to see the practice nurse.

It has been said before, and it will be said again, when we current pensioners were working we paid for this service, so why are some of us being short changed?

CP, New Cross