Top marks for practice’s reception team

THE team at Wells Health Centre is delighted at the results of this year’s annual GP Patient Survey.

Not only has the practice achieved higher results than the national averages, but its reception team achieved a score of 100 per cent for “helpfulness of receptionists at a GP practice”.

At a time when the whole of the NHS is under great pressure, and with patients sometimes expressing concerns over their experiences when dealing with GP receptionists, health centre staff are proud of their achievement.

Karen Polly, Managing Partner at Wells Health Centre, said: “Our whole practice works as one team, to make it as easy as possible for patients to access services and our receptionist’s focus is to be as honest, transparent, compassionate, knowledgeable and friendly as we can with our patients.

“To make it as easy as possible for patients to access care, our receptionists can book routine appointments in with clinical staff at the Practice, throughout the week. And we have on-call GP and paramedics at the practice that our receptionists can access on a daily basis to be able to quickly and easily help patients access clinical advice.

“We understand that the survey results are only a snapshot of the views and opinions of our patients and won’t be everyone’s experience. In order for us to continually review our Practice, we encourage patients to provide feedback via our Friends and Family survey which can be found either on our website or cards in practice.”

Dr Bernie Marden, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Somerset, said: “It is great to see the good results that patients at Wells Health Centre reported in this year’s national patient survey. In particular, it is outstanding that 100 per cent of patients surveyed reported that they found the reception team helpful.

“The national average result for this question was 82 per cent and our Somerset average was 84 per cent, so this is a great achievement by the team at Wells Health Centre.

“Reception teams play an incredibly important role in the delivery of GP services. They are skilled, compassionate and knowledgeable. They work quickly to understand patient needs, signpost them to the best service to help them, and listen to people who are often distressed or anxious, helping to resolve complex problems.

“We are hugely grateful to the reception team at Wells Health Centre for their service to patients and the community, and we will be visiting the Health Centre to see what we can learn that may help other practices.”

Each year NHSE randomly selects a group of patients who are currently registered at a GP surgery in England, inviting them to take part in a survey answering questions about their GP practice.

The survey is conducted independently and only patients who receive an invitation to participate can give their feedback.