Patients advised not to call GP line before 10am

A story published in the Hereford Times last Thursday highlighted the problems one pensioner had in trying to call her GP practice.

A number of readers have since also spoken of their problems in making an appointment via the telephone.

In response, the Hereford Medical Group admitted they were “aware of the difficulties that some patients have had in getting through on the phone” and said they were “working to improve this”.

In a Facebook post, the group added: “Hereford Medical Group phones lines are extremely busy between 8am and 10am and we would encourage patients to call outside of these times.”

The Hereford Medical Group is working on a plan to close a number of the more traditional GP surgeries in the city centre and replace them with a purpose-built ‘super surgery’ near the railway station.

Work on the new surgery is yet to start but changes have already been made in the way patients see their GP and make appointments.

The HMG statement explained that “all calls for appointments and general queries are now dealt with by a dedicated team of staff based at one site”.

The Care Navigation Centre is staffed from Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and HMG said detailed work was carried out on the volumes of calls individual surgeries received.

“This allowed us to plan and ensure that the Care Navigation Centre is staffed adequately throughout the day and we continue to work to align demand with the availability of staff,” their statement added.

“We monitor call answer times throughout the day along with the volumes of calls we receive.”

HMG thanked all of its patients for their understanding as they “adapt to these new ways of working”.

“We would encourage all patients to leave any feedback via our website,” the statement added.

“This will allow us to learn and grow as an organisation. Once you have submitted your feedback a member of our Management Team will get back to you.”