Practice news and update

Dr Mascott:

Firstly and most importantly we would like to inform you that Dr Annabelle Mascott, a Partner and highly respected GP is retiring at the end of June. Dr Mascott was originally hoping to do this earlier but stayed on to help with the pandemic response. She has served the patients of Lisson Grove for many years and has been instrumental in building the team that we have today. We will all miss her and we wish her the very best for a long and happy retirement with lots of fun and relaxation.

We have aware of this change for a while and have already recruited some GP hours to fill the gap. We are however looking to recruit some extra hours as the demand and patient numbers are continuing to grow.

Finance Manager:

Also later this year we say goodbye to Carole our Finance Manager who has also reached retirement. She is not someone who most patients see but is critical in keeping the bills paid and the doors open (and much more besides!).

Please see https://www.lissongroveandwoolwellmc.co.uk/vacancies for details of how to apply if you know anyone who may be interested.

Phone lines:

We are aware that there is huge pressure on the phone lines at present which has resulted in delays at some times of the day. We have recruited two new receptionists who are already part way through their training and we are in the process of appointing a third. We now release all appointments at 08:00hrs and are moving as many staff as possible to that time to answer calls as quickly as possible. If you are not calling for an appointment we advise waiting until later in the day. We hope soon to be able to announce a dedicated number for prescription queries that will further reduce pressure on the main number.

eConsult via our website is an alternative to avoid you waiting in a phone queue, you can submit administrative queries as well as medical ones via this route which is open at least the same times the phones are on.

Waiting rooms:

We have increased the number of seats in the waiting rooms to make things a bit more comfortable whilst still maintaining necessary social distancing. We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed.

Are we closed?

No we have never been closed at any point in the pandemic. What we have done and continue to do is to manage the demand to reduce large numbers of people in the waiting rooms, foyers or at the front doors. We have diverted resources to manage that the best we can, typically a receptionist can deal with eConsults and calls quicker than someone at the front door. If you do not have a phone or access to the internet then we will and always have spoken to you at the door.

Are we going back to face to face appointments?

Again we never stopped, if it is clinically necessary then we will bring people into the surgery. If we can deal with people via other methods and it is safe to do so we will. This avoids patients travelling unnecessarily or sitting in a waiting room with other ill people. This approach is something we have always used, triaging your call (or eConsult) and directing to the most appropriate clinician in the most appropriate way. We will continue to adapt and change to try and provide the most efficient and safe service to as many patients as possible.

Busy:

We are extremely busy at the moment for multiple reasons and are doing our very best to keep up with all the demands. There are times when we will be slower then we would like dealing with some issues as we will always prioritise the patients most in need. We apologise for any delays and thank you for your patience at this difficult time. The staff clinical, reception and back office are all working very hard to manage this demand with the resources we have.

That's all for now, we will update further as we get more news.