The Department of Health has issued a survey through the post, asking for you views on access to medical services at this practice, and in particular, your access to appointment booking and staff on the telephone. It is possible that this, or similar exercises will be repeated in the future. The doctors would ask: that you reply positively to these surveys, and would like you to be aware of the following facts:

• The practice opening hours of 8.00am – 6.30pm are those which the government and the Department of Health have contracted us to do.
• Doctors’ contracts exclude working over weekends and bank holidays.
• The practice has installed the latest telephone equipment to improve call handling at a cost of £ 0.04 per minute.
• Last month (May 2007) the practice received a total of 11,700 calls with an average response time of 9 seconds and average duration of 1.13 minutes. 373 calls were abandoned with an average wait time of 30 seconds.
• 100% percent of patients are seen within 48 hours if they wish. 100% are seen within 24 hours or on the same day if they wish.
• You are always free to see whichever doctor suits you best, but you may have to wait longer for an available appointment.
• The practice books appointments up to 2 months ahead.

Please support us and provide a positive reply to any questionnaires of this nature which you may receive!

THANK YOU!