A health watchdog has found that Island patients face long waits and ‘very poor’ online doctors’ services as healthcare provisions continue to struggle.
The report that was conducted post-COVID-19 also found that GP surgery employees are reporting ‘rock bottom’ staff morale and exhaustion, along with increased verbal aggression towards them. Leading to a series of recommendations from industry professionals.
In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, video and telephone consultations were introduced and face-to-face GP appointments were allowed only if it was absolutely necessary and after patients raised concerns, Healthwatch Isle of Wight (HIW) investigated.
This week, its report was welcomed by members of the Isle of Wight Council’s health and social care scrutiny committee.
Patient feedback from more than 1000 Islanders found concerns about long telephone queues, online services and the type of appointments offered. Of those who answered the survey, 70% said they were not satisfied with the length of time it had taken to answer their call.
It was also reported that more than 1 in 3 people (37%), found the online consultation experience to be very poor, or rather poor.
The report noted little empathy for the workload and strain faced by GP surgeries, which are busier than ever. Meanwhile, staff say patients are more impatient, as they work longer hours and deal with more appointments and complex cases.
One employee said:
“I am very proud of the service the medical centre delivers to patients, but the continued increased pressure cannot be sustained. Staff morale is at rock bottom, particularly as patients don’t seem to appreciate how swift a service we provide.”
Others told the HIW they were proud of the way they had kept patients safe while finding different ways to care for them.
The watchdog’s recommendations included a need for better communication over the roles of staff and the future of consultations and more efficient call handling, with some changes such as replacement phone systems already in place.
Michaela Dyer, managing director of the Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said the recommendations would be fully taken forward and work needed to be done to manage patients’ expectations.
‘patients don’t seem to appreciate how swift a service we provide’….obviously not fit for purpose then, if they cannot even put their hands up that they got it wrong, life goes on as normal except in the hospital and our surguries, this is the emperors new clothes moment..but no, lets buckle down and its all the patients fault..disgusting….McDonalds has no problem??Tescos..no problem, B&Q..no problem ..but its rife down the Dr’s..really?????
thing is, you pay for service as you get it at mcdonalds or b and q, whereas the NHS is free at the point of use, so Dr surgeries get whiny sick notes turning up every five minutes expecting immediate service for a broken nail.
there are so many leeches and benefit spongers with all sorts of suspect ailments clogging up the system, along with all the whiny weaklings that need a doctor every time something minor happens, which could be dealt with using willpower, backbone and over the counter medication, it is no wonder genuine need cannot be met.
Disagree that the NHS is free. We and our parents and our grandparents all paid into it for years.
It is only free as you rightly say for the spongers and newcomers to our land.
They are taking what our forefathers worked ruddy hard and paid in for US not them to have a better life
Totally agree we pay alot of money for are NHS we should get a service doctors have got to stop hiding,leave if you don’t like,it but don’t take are money do your job
Totally disagree, our NHS has unfortunately become a complete drain that it costs far more to run than what it raises through NI contributions pp due to being at the forefront of healthcare innovation and developments far beyond what was ever imagined when the service commenced. if anyone thinks their NI covers all their healthcare needs over a life time is rather deluded. In the US the cost of having a baby ranges from $15,000-$20,000 per child. That’s before you then require an ICU bed later at any point in your life costing a minimum of £1,000per day before hemodialysis, surgery, ECMO, medications or before you factor in chemotherapy / radiotherapy treatment where 1:3 people will require this within the UK, or not including the 20 years treatment for diabetes and then going on to require 1/2 stents. Of course it could be run more efficiently and their is no easy solution but I do feel huge input into healthcare education needs to be implemented in to how much it costs. Those medications that you collect on your repeat prescription for only £8.40 an item which actually cost up to 100s of ££. Having worked as a community nurse and seeing people hoard £1,000s of ££ unused medications it’s ridiculous how the system is abused and so much could be saved if people knew the cost implications as well as the human impact for not attending appointments, wasteful use of Drs time, hoarding of viable medications. How our service currently runs is not efficient, I currently work in private healthcare overseas & have the privilege to have access to private healthcare which is a fantastic service but it you don’t have insurance paid by employers you don’t have access to quality healthcare which is not how we want our NhS to go. Working in private healthcare everything is accounted for, costed and charged back to insurance it’s only then when you see the pricing on every medication or medical supply do you really have your eyes opened to how our NI contributions do not cover our life time care needs unless you never in your lifetime require secondary or tertiary care. This doesn’t excuse poor service delivery and that’s not what this post is about, it’s about the need for people to be educated into how much it costs to run the service and how our individual NI contributions do not cover our life time costs and maybe then people would make more mindful decisions when over ordering on their repeat prescriptions, not attending gp appointments and collectively these small changes by everyone will help relieve some of the pressures of our service in turn this will then help improve the allocation of resources, reduce wait times, incentivize more people to join the workforce.
NHS isn’t free pay for it out of our wages unless you don’t work
Wrong the NHS is not free as all tax payers have paid into the system. What is wrong is that the woke brigade who think they have mental health issues run to the doctors every five minutes for nothing. Our parents and grandparents just got on with things when things weren’t going right.
How come I pay in my taxes for NHS & you don’t?
Better check your facts before statement like that.
What is your idea of genuine need?
Bloody idiot. We pay for it as did our parents and grandparents before, and we just got hit with a tax hike to pay even more for it!
Let me take a wild guess, you missed out on that?
Not sure why whighter get thumbs down for his comments?spot on with this one .are you all blind ,gullable or plain thick
Spongers are rife. Its FACT
wake th up
in fact most of the valid true pists on here get red thumbs?why?
Is true!
Get off here sad red warriors..get a life
Especially after the government told Dr’s to go back to Face to Face meetings
Agree
The morale of residents is also at rock bottom when you are waiting for someone to answer the phone, get an appointment to see the doctor in less than 2 weeks, and face the prospect of having to travel to the mainland for treatment. In the meantime nothing is done about it, we need action not surveys.
Moving forward would be a good idea, not a “moving backwards” like so many things these days, who do they think they are another island KGB, we have one of those already. Doctors just got a little to cosy hiding away during the pandemic, and still want that “keep your distance” attitude. If they won’t see people face to face now, then cut the salaries of those who refuse, it is there job after all. The thought of trying to see a doctor these days is enough on it’s own to make you sick.
Yes, I agree 100%.
Even I am embarrassed to be a doctor.
Can’t believe it needed a ” scrutiny committee” to figure this out, anyone who needs access to surgery or doctors can give the answers. Telephone answering is, at best, abysmal, doctors are still in hiding, overall the GP service is atrocious. One senior doctor at our practice only does phone appointments, from his home, on the mainland. You can walk into the hospital, see a nurse, doctor, clinician, you can see a nurse at your local surgery, but for some bizarre reason, GPs are not available for face to face. Self diagnosing also seems to be something we are being encouraged to do via the E Consult system. WTF.
What is the point of these surveys? Nothing changes, ever. I thought the Covid experience helped to reduce unnecessary appointments, but now they claim they’re busier than ever. There has been a major shift from ‘face-to-face’ appointments to telephone consultations, which should be more efficient. But no they are busier than ever.
Don’t they see that the NHS model for GPs and dentists is failing massively and there has to be a new better system.
Plus these virtual appointments are not fit for purpose , it has all ready claimed the life of a person who had a blood clot due to not being able to read the condition virtually, and been stated if seen face to face it would not have happened as a proper diagnose would of happened
I literally pay £3000 a month in NICs, top 1% of UK taxpayers, and still receive the service so bad I have to go privately off the island. That’s such a nonsense. I’d be better off if I could save that money for 100% private insurance.
Simple look at the Google reviews for Dower house surgery that tells you exactly what the public think but what will be done about it??????? NOTHING
Heard of lots of cases where someone hasn’t been able to get face to face appointments and been fobbed off over phone and now have serious conditions including children ,it has to stop! Being a doctor used to be a vocation, they know what they’re getting into when they’re training. A&E are over run because its being used as a G.P surgery , if they’re not pulling their weight get rid , no wonder people are googling stuff and scaring themselves to death. Also what’s the idea of one appointment for one ailment what if the other ailment is connected, surely best to check everything at same appointment to save another appointment.
Been to dower House surgery today I was the only person in there need one say more
It will continue to get worse while large scale housing developments are allowed to go ahead without increasing the number of GPs and Surgeries
Not just slow, at times its non existent
Since Covid has declined the service has not returned to pre Covid level.
Intact when Covid was at a high doctors stopped seeing patients & service started to fail.
Why were surgeries nearly shut when hospital staff were expected to work & did a great job.
Seems the surgeries doctors & staff are still in that mindset.
Can take up yo an hour for phones to be answered.
Complete shambles!
The world is short staffed. Be kind to those who turned up !!!!
Everyone judges GP surgeries but spend a week walking in their shoes & appreciate the pressured environment they are in.
I know everyone will sneer at any defence of the NHS but be on the end of daily verbal abuse & being caught between a rock & a hard place trying to best triage people & get a response for them as soon as possible while working with a difficult system & working through every lockdown & being short staffed while nurses & admin staff had to be taken out to different sites to manage COVID vaccination clinics.Thete are faults with the NHS for sure but before u take it out on the person who picks up the phone or deals with u on reception remember these are real people with real feelings
Reception staff should not be triaging people medical needs. They have been put in an impossible situation for which they not trained or skilled to deal with. This is adding to patients being at risk
What a load of rubbish Gp service abd county hall are the only people not working normally.you can’t see either unless it’s a crissis. I believe we are all under pressure all had people expect more of us at least they were hidden behind closed doors I had to work through the whole thing with customers rages spitting swearing.
Gps should get a life and go back to a normal service just saying if others have to do it why can’t youx
You voted Tory, this is what happens.
Gp’s have declared themselves godlike, they are protected by an array of hissing serpent like creatures cunningly disguised as receptionists.
But before you encounter those malevolent beasts first you must submit to interrogation by the electronic all seeing eye, and ALL questions must be answerd, regardless of relevance.
Unicorn sightings are plentiful compared to the lesser spotted GP.
In my view, patients get angry because , like myself, have long term problems that are known to the surgery, but when something new happens to my system, I cannot see a doctor face to face, so the doctor can actually see the problem, I have to phone, be put on hold and then maybe in a week or two have an appointment with an ANP nurse !! This happens with many long term sufferers.. Also what ever happened to getting Physio, now need to download an app, and then get a text telling you what to do ??? Covid is being managed, why can we not get face to face attention ? What are all these Doctors doing… ? Certainly not seeing patients.
Forgot to add, not everyone has a mobile phone or internet…. both are not free….