Improvements promised at Peterborough GP surgery rated among worse in England for booking appointments

A Peterborough GP surgery that was voted amongst the worst in England for booking an appointment has promised to make improvements.
140 forms completed.  Booking experience: Very good 6.7%, Fairly good 26.3%, neither good nor poor 23.6%, Fairly poor 16.0%, Very poor 27.4%.   
84th in Cambridgeshire.140 forms completed.  Booking experience: Very good 6.7%, Fairly good 26.3%, neither good nor poor 23.6%, Fairly poor 16.0%, Very poor 27.4%.   
84th in Cambridgeshire.
140 forms completed. Booking experience: Very good 6.7%, Fairly good 26.3%, neither good nor poor 23.6%, Fairly poor 16.0%, Very poor 27.4%. 84th in Cambridgeshire.

Nightingale Medical Centre in Damson Drive, Dogsthorpe was rated as the 19th worst surgery in England based on data collected by the most recent GP Patient Survey.

The data showed that of the 140 people who responded to the survey, 27.4 percent said that they had a very poor experience when trying to book an appointment, a further 16 percent rated their experience as poor.

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The surgery is managed by Dr Laliwala & Partners, which also manages the Ailsworth Medical Centre. Ailsworth rated as the 41st worst surgery in the country with 24.9 percent of patients surveyed rating the experience as very poor and 10.3 percent as poor.

The practice has insisted that they offer face-to-face appointments when medically necessary but that going forward they would be making improvements. This will include recruiting more staff, reviewing the practice’s telephone lines and offering more online appointments.

A spokesperson for Nightingale and Ailsworth Practices said: “Our practices have worked tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to care for patients and respond to a significant growth in demand for our services, all whilst ensuring we keep our patients and the practice team safe.

“We continue to provide face-to-face appointments where clinically appropriate, combined with telephone and online appointments to help make primary care services as accessible to everyone.

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“Our staff are working extremely hard and we continue to look at ways in which we can support the increased demand further, this includes the recruitment of more staff, regularly reviewing our telephone system and offering more appointments online

“Our Practices are heavily involved in the Covid Vaccine booster programme, whilst also offering Flu vaccine clinics and running our usual services.

The NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group has also issued advice on how patients can best access services when required.

A representative added: “Patients are encouraged to support their practices by ensuring they choose the right service for their illness or injury. Local pharmacists can provide expert advice and treatment with many open late night and across the weekend. Alternatively, NHS 111 is available 24/7 and will direct you to most appropriate service for your symptoms.

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“We have seen an alarming rise in aggressive and abusive behaviour from patients and are supporting the local #BeKind campaign, which aims to explain to patients the new ways in which their GP practice is ready to help them, whilst reminding them that we operate a zero tolerance policy towards abuse and aggression.”

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