Dear Patients

We would like to emphasise that the Practice is open and staff are available for consultations. However, we were sorry to hear that some patients are finding it difficult to access our services and we thought it would be helpful to clarify how we are working in these difficult times.

Due to the Pandemic we have had to adapt the way we provide our services in order to avoid any possible spread of the disease. In April this year we were required by NHS England to introduce the e-Consult system as a means of patients assessing our services, safely.  During September, the system was accessed by 2,259 patients and 1001 e-Consults were submitted and the team has been working very hard to meet the unprecedented demand. Whilst many patients have been happy with the system, we are aware using e-Consults is not suitable for some patients.  We are feeding back any concerns raised by patients to the e-Consult team and the Clinical Commissioning Group team.

There are two ways to contact the Practice, by telephone or through e-Consult via our Practice website https://www.theharefieldpractice.co.uk/econsult-2. Face to face consultations are available but if a consultation can take place over the phone to the satisfaction of both the patient and the doctor, this will be the preferred option.

If patients are asked to come in, they will be asked to arrive as close as possible to their appointment time and we will endeavour to see them promptly. We have listened to your concerns about the Practice door being closed and from 4 November onwards patients with appointments will be brought into the Surgery and be able to wait in a socially distanced safe place. A maximum of 4 patients will be allowed in the Surgery at any one time.

We continue to be accessible by telephone. The Surgery has had greatly increased demand over the past few months and we are aware that some patients have experienced difficulty in getting through on the phone. We are currently addressing how we can improve telephone access as a matter of priority.

We as a Practice are committed to improving the experience you have when accessing our services and we very much appreciate your feedback both positive and negative. Positive feedback is a great boost to staff morale whereas negative feedback can be the basis for improving our service. The best way to give us feedback is via our secretaries at [email protected]

Thank you for all your support and we look forward to continuing to improve our service.

Dr Gill Dale and Dr Adris Lemar, GP partners