Friends and Family Test (May) – Patient Responses

Posted by: ella.scott-simons - Posted on:

Shown are Kingfisher Practice’s results from Friends and Family Test, which we sent to all patients. The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) was created to help understand whether patients are happy with the service provided, or where improvements are needed. In total, we received 113 responses in May. Please see the breakdown and some of our responses below:

Very Good – 84

Good – 27

Neither Good nor Poor – 2

Poor – 0

Very Poor – 0

Don’t know – 0

  • I was able to have a face to face appointment in a reasonable time. I’ve used the PATCHS system too to avoid an unnecessary face to face – or to decide if I need to be seen, and I really like this.
  • Everyone that I have seen our spoken to by telephone consultation over the last 10 days have been very professional, reacted extremely fast to further tests etc and overall been superb. I have had been treated like a human being and listened to in all levels. Thank you Kingfisher Practice, very reassuring to have you look after my health and well-being.
  • Always happy with the service of Dr Simran Dehal. It is hard to get appointments with him, otherwise I have no complaints.
  • Efficient, friendly and helpful
  • The GP was very efficient & reviewed my test results with clear explanation.
  • It’s been superb to be able to see the same doctor for a few years, who knows your medical history and is personable and friendly
  • You don’t always get seen on time – I’ve waited couple of times for 1hour.

Response: Apologies if you have had to wait to be seen by one of the GPs. The wait times for seeing a GP can often exceed your given appointment time due to a variety of factors inherent of the healthcare system. One of the primary reasons is that doctors frequently need to attend to urgent cases that arise unexpectedly. We understand that these urgent matters can disrupt scheduled appointments and extend wait times for other patients. While the extended wait times can be frustrating, it is often a reflection of the unpredictable nature of providing comprehensive healthcare, where urgent patient needs must sometimes take precedence. Nonetheless, we apologise again, if this has caused inconvenience to any of our patients.

  • Only thing is waiting to get through on the phone.

Response: We have updated our phone systems, so reception are now able to see the waiting times for patients, so we apologize if you have had a long-waiting time. Our average, waiting times for patients to get through is under 2 minutes, although this does tend to be longer at busy times such as in the mornings. We would recommend that if your request is not urgent, then please try to call after 10am, so you will not have to hold on the phone. We have also added a call-back option to our phone lines, so if you would prefer not to wait, you can select the option for us to call you back. This will not delay our response time, as our phone system recognises where you are in the queue, and will call you back automatically. Another option is our online consultation service, PATCHS in which your requests are sent to a GP, and from there, they can advise you on the next appropriate steps. You are also able to book and cancel your appointments online, which may remove the need for you to call, aswell as reduce phone waiting times.