Forum publishes its survey on Advance Access and Out of Hours

The Forum has completed a survey of the Hartlepool public on their experiences of gaining access to their GP, including experiences of making appointments and accessing GP's at night.

The Forum’s minutes show that as long ago as February 28th 2005 concerns about queues (for making an appointment via the Advance Access system)were beginning to surface. The role of the Forum is to identify patterns and highlight problems. The Forum is the patient’s voice and it hopes that this report will give many patients the opportunity to be heard.
The results show that Advanced Access appears to work well in some surgeries but is a disaster in others. It seems to be a matter of interpretation and flexibility.
It is the Forum’s fervent wish that action be taken to put an end to queues outside of surgeries. The winter of 2005 / 2006 has been long and hard and the sick, the elderly, and mothers with children, have been forced to stand outside in all weathers. It is clearly an unacceptable state of affairs and the Forum calls on all the stakeholders involved to work to rectify the situation before the next winter.

Copies of the report can be obtained via Sheila Sutherland, Development Officer, on 01429 287315.