I wanted to provide a quick update as I know that people have been having particular issues with being cut off whilst on hold to get through to the surgery.
I have raised this problem before with the Hub. In the first instance they believed that this was down to issues with phone signals, however I pressed them to investigate this further as the problem was happening far too often for this to be the reason.
Frustratingly I have had to chase a number of times for this to be looked into and have been providing examples from local residents for them to investigate. Having chased again, I have received the following email from the Hub today (for reference Premier is the company which manages the telephone system) :-
"We have been in constant dialogue with Premier to try and resolve this issue as it is a common complaint we know we need to resolve.
Unfortunately previously it had been reliant on us reporting every single instance of this happening. Premier have since created a new report and also sorted a small issue which may have added to the increased volume of cut offs.
After speaking to them again today, there does still seem to be some happening so we have escalated it to one of their directors. They are coming out in the next few days to observe the calls taking place and also review the system in place to investigate further.
I will report back with a further update after their visit."
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I will continue to push on this issue so it can get resolved asap.
Whilst there seems to have been some improvements to actual call waiting times, especially during peak times as I have received more positive reports from residents, I appreciate that people are still very frustrated that these issues are taking so long to get sorted. As a fellow patient, I share that frustration and have been feeding in all of the concerns I have received from local residents to the CQC (Care Quality Commission).
The CQC monitor & inspect the care that health social care services provide. They have the ability to demand improvements from a service and set a time frame in which to meet these improvements. They then have powers to take further action if this is needed and the improvements they have demanded have not been met. The CQC have told me on a number of occasions that they are monitoring this situation carefully and have the ability to carry out an inspection at the Hub.
The CQC would welcome information from patients who use the service, especially those who have experienced poor care. You can also tell them when you feel you have received good care. This can be provided to the CQC by patients by using the online experience form: https://www.cqc.org.uk/share-your-experience-finder or by calling the CQC National Customer Service Centre on 03000 616161 (which I have been told does not have extra charges).
Whilst I cannot compel the CQC to act (as their decisions on local healthcare providers is kept independent of politicians) I will continue to feedback information regularly to them so that they can continue to monitor the situation and be fully informed in order for them to reach any decisions on any necessary action.
As ever please do continue to feed in your experiences. I will continue to push for improvements to be delivered.
I have also copied all of the GP Updates I have issued so far in case you wanted to look back on the context of the changes.
Thank you again.
GP Updates in chronological order with the last one at the bottom:
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4300-gp-hub-update
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4320-gp-update
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4324-north-swindon-gp-hub-update
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4334-gp-hub-update-21-november
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4339-north-swindon-gp-hub-update-29th-november
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4364-gp-hub-update-12-december
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4365-gp-hub-update-19-january
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4372-gp-update-25-01-19
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4386-gp-update-12-02-19
http://www.justintomlinson.com/news/4418-gp-hub-update-25-march
