What we’re hearing about Glenlyn Medical Centre – March 2024

The areas we identified that could be improved for patients to have a better experience going forward:

Glenlyn Medical Centre

1. We recommend more work with patients to improve trust and confidence in clinical decision making and to build understanding that being treated by the most appropriate professional ensures everyone gets the right support from the right person or service.
2. We recommend working with patients to help them better navigate the various options for accessing care, and working towards a consistent and clear approach for having the online forms available.
3. We recommend that improvements to telephone systems are considered, including how the call back facility is implemented.
4. Where possible, patients should be offered a choice of which site to attend. Where this is not possible, we recommend that the practice  clearly communicates the reasons to patients and ensures that patients are made aware of any local support available for volunteer patient transport.
5. A recommend a range of ways to communicate with patients should be utilised according to individual preferences. We have heard from some patients of other practices that they do not like to receive text messages when they have not explicitly given permission, so we would recommend explicitly seeking consent.
6. We recommend that the Patient Participation Group is re-established and fully supported in order to forge better links to communicate with patients and encourage more involvement and feedback directly from patients.

NHS Surrey Heartlands

1. We recommend more work with patients to improve trust and confidence in clinical decision making and to build understanding that being treated by the most appropriate professional ensures everyone gets the right support from the right person or service.
2. We recommend considering this feedback as part of improvements to websites going forward.
3. We recommend increased promotion of the NHS App to build confidence in patients and make it easier for them to access care.

We have discussed these recommendations with representatives of both Glenlyn Medical Centre and NHS Surrey Heartlands and they have committed to addressing some of the concerns raised in the report. We were pleased to hear that work to re establish the Patient Participation Group in particular has already begun and Surrey Heartlands are offering support to the practice to further support this work.

Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences with us.