Concerns over GP appointments

THE DIFFICULTY in getting timely doctor’s appointments has been raised by Forres Community Council (FCC).

Community councillors at the last meeting in the Tolbooth reported stories from members of the public with medical emergencies who were unable to get through to Forres Health and Care Centre by telephone, or who were not deemed in need to see a doctor or nursing staff by a receptionist.

“Folk are saying that they can’t get appointments,” said FCC’s Graham Murdoch. “They often can’t get through so leave a message but it doesn’t get passed on. I heard of one man who couldn’t get a message to his doctor or be seen - it turned out he had a blood clot on his lung.”

He added: “There is clearly so much pressure on the service that it can’t cope with the demand.

“Forres doubles in size every 40 years and we shouldn’t get in the way of progress or stop development but the town needs an improved infrastructure.”

FCC secretary Eleanor Hayward called for more doctors to serve the rising population.

She said: “we need more local kids to go to medical school and come back to Forres. At the moment, the receptionist is telling folk they can’t have appointments but she has no medical qualifications so shouldn’t be assessing a visitor or caller’s health.”

An NHS Grampian spokesperson explained Forres Health and Care Centre has an NHS unscheduled care department.

She said: “The benefits for Culbin and Varis medical practices are that those patients who have a acute minor illnesses - for example, a foreign body in the ear, a minor head injury or burn, earache, cuts, shingles, a throat infection, tonsillitis or a urinary tract infection - can be seen on the same day without the need to make a GP appointment.

“The practices have recently undertaken some work, in conjunction with the NHS staff, in order to define the role of this department more clearly to ensure that both patients and staff are aware of the remit of unscheduled care.”

Patients whose illness do not meet the criteria and who need medically urgent GP advice can telephone the practice.

The spokesperson claimed the duty teams prioritise them and call the patient back with advice or a time to be seen.

“Our aim is to ensure that patients get the appropriate care that they need.

“Training has been provided on a Moray-wide GP group initiative by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and also here in Forres by our Practice GPs, to train our staff to request information from patients so that we can ensure that patients are signposted to the most appropriate service and seen by the most appropriate person, be that a health care assistants, practice nurses, treatment nurses, pharmacy technician, practice pharmacist, advanced nurse practitioner or paramedic practitioner.”

She added: “By requesting information from patients when they call, our administrative staff ensure that patients are directed to the most appropriate person to get the treatment they need. We offer many different types of appointments and the information given by patients is useful in ascertaining which type is needed. Many patients find telephone consultations useful as often they are simply seeking advice from a medical professional and do not require a physical examination.

“We hope that this will reduce the number of appointments needed to get the relevant information, advice, tests and treatment which patients need. This type of care navigation process is now used throughout Scotland.

“We appreciate that occasionally patients may not wish to disclose details to our staff due to the very personal nature of their problem and our staff would simply pass this message on to the GP in these circumstances. However, it is difficult for the GPs to prioritise calls if they do not have information from the patient in order to do so.”

The Practices have historically used a system where GP appointments are released 10 days in advance. This continues to be the current waiting time at present for a routine GP appointment.

The spokeswoman finished: “We are currently undertaking a review of GP appointments and are looking at the possibility of releasing these appointments up to four to six weeks in advance to make it easier for patients to make a non-urgent GP appointment.”