We are very aware that telephoning the Practice for an appointment can take a long time and callers either cannot get through or are left waiting for us to answer after being told by the recorded message that “we know you are waiting”.
Long delays can make the callers frustrated with us and the reception staff, whose fault it is’nt, as they are dealing with other callers or queries at the desk.
To reduce the problem of long delays waiting for a call to be answered, in February 2010 the Partners have arranged for an extra member of staff to answer the telephone at the busiest times for telphone calls; Monday and Tuesday mornings. From the smaller amount of frustrated callers we think this is working.
However we are still having feedback about the telphone system. Some patients do not like getting through to be told “we know you are waiting” and then having to hang on for a long time at their expense until they are answered. Other people don’t mind this.
It is hard to please all needs in different situations, but we feel it is important to ask our patients for their opinions. We hope we can meet the expectations people have of us, but if we cannot we will tell patients through the Patients Participation Group and Practice Newsletters what we have done and why we can’t meet all expectations.
We should be grateful if you could let us know what you think about our telphone accessibility by answering the following questions:
1. Which surgery do you usually telphone?
2. Do you think it takes you too long to get through when you telephone the Practice .
3. If yes how long are you waiting before you call is answered?
4. What day and what time of day do you call when you are waiting a long time?
5. Do you think the time before we answer the telphone has bocome shorter since February 2010?
6. Do you think we should continue with the system of getting through and then the recorded message telling you “we know you are waiting” before being answered by a receptionist?
7. Please let us know any other feedback regarding our telphone accessibility that you feel would be useful.
Thank you very much.
