Sadly patients are very quick to criticise GP Practices when there is a shortage of appointments even though patient demand is not something we can control.
However, appointment availability is also determined by how responsibly patients use our services.
On Saturday 12 October our staff gave up their weekend day off to run flu vaccination clinics for our patients. We run these EXTRA clinics on weekends for the convenience of patients and also so as not to have to reduce availability of routine appointments for patients during the week.
119 Patients failed to attend without letting us know in advance and many more had to be chased up by our staff on the day.
While we do our very best to provide appointments we are not helped when patients do not bother to turn up and do not have the courtesy to let us know in advance so the appointments can be offered to other patients. This not only wastes resources at the time but most of these patients will now need another appointment which takes up further capacity.
Please think twice before booking appointments that you then don’t turn up for. Please use our services responsibly.
We are here to help patients as best we can, and we will always try to go the extra mile even if our efforts are often unseen by most; however, staff also need a break from the endless demands placed upon them and when they do extra work for patients in their own time it needs to be worthwhile, rewarding and respected…. please do not take the efforts or goodwill of our staff for granted.
For those who did book and turn up for their appointment – thank you.
