Patients not showing up for appointments at Saundersfoot Medical Centre is putting more unnecessary pressure on a ‘dedicated team’ a local county councillor has stated, highlighting 200 ‘no shows’ in one month alone this year.

Saundersfoot’s county councillors Chris Williams and Alec Cormack recently had a meeting with doctors and the practice manager at the facility regarding concerns raised by residents wanting appointments and the wait on the new telephone system.

“I do take on board the problems that’s raised but believe that the surgery is under an awful amount of pressure,” stated Cllr Williams.

“Not only do they have to see the patients at the surgery, they also have to comply with house calls from housebound patients.

“In February alone there were 246 house calls and this doesn’t take into consideration the 172 patients in care/residential homes that sometimes escalates to multiple patients during a visit.

“I know from talking to other members around Pembrokeshire that there is a dedicated team in Saundersfoot and as a community we have one of the best surgeries in the county,” he continued.

“I also know things could be better and they are working on the telephone system to make it easier for residents calling in.

“What is disappointing is the surgery are still getting ‘no shows’ after appointments are being made. In February alone there were over 200 missed appointments which could have gone to patients needing medical attention!”

Cllr Williams said that the following information is advice which has been highlighted from the team at Saundersfoot Medical Centre:

• Residents are encouraged to only ring at 8 am if they need an appointment the same day.

• There is only a finite number of appointments, so where patients can, please use 111, the local pharmacy and Tenby walk-in centre.

• Receptionists are signposting patients in order to get them to the most appropriate person to deal with their persisting complaint. This isn’t always a GP.

• Working on the balance between same day and pre booked appointments. The surgery think it would be worth getting some feedback from residents as to whether they would prefer more pre booked appointments rather than the same day.

If that is the case then they would need to understand that once the appointments had all been taken for that day, they would then need to use the 111 service.

• The Medical Centre hopes to offer ‘eConsult’ which is a service that will allow people to contact their own NHS GP practice online for free.

This will be accessible anywhere at any time as long as you have access to the internet. This is hoped to be in place during May 2023.

Saundersfot Medical Centre
(Observer pic)

Cllr Chris Williams previously revealed that the Centre was so busy over the winter period, that in December alone, the facility received 9,967 calls!

He said that at the time, delays in hospital appointments following the pandemic has resulted in added demand for care, and along with staff sickness issues, he sympathised with the ‘extreme pressures’ they were under.

Improvements to the Surgery website mean that patients could now book some appointments online via the ‘My Health Online’ system; whilst the Surgery would also be installing an automatic touch screen system for residents to use, with help to be available.

Cllr Williams said that he and Cllr Cormack would continue to work with the practice manager towards improving the service for local residents.