We hear about it all the time: the abuse of NHS staff. I regularly read about complaints and issues on local Facebook pages, and heard how media abuse is impacting on fellow PMs on this thread. But this story really got to me. It isn’t a million miles away from where I live, but I think it would have affected me wherever in the country it had happened.
Whenever I sit at the front desk, I realise what an incredible job our reception team do. I didn’t come up through the ranks; I jumped into practice management from a different arena altogether, and I’m certain the reception team cringe whenever I say I can help out. I’m fairly sure I leave more chaos in my wake than I fix, but I try to help out every so often to make sure I’m not out of touch with what’s going on in the practice and what kinds of issues are cropping up.
Having seen Jason Manford’s tweets this week (20th September onwards), I got really, really angry. While he did later adjust his position somewhat, I despair of a system where we feel, on a daily basis, like we’re drowning, and yet patients feel like we don’t care about them. I find this particularly hard because I know first-hand how often a team member worries about one of their patients. Sajid Javid’s comments show just how removed the ‘coalface’ is from the lofty echelons of the higher-ups. How is it that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care doesn’t understand how challenging life feels at the moment? It appears that the BMA had something to say on the matter too.
Waiting on celebrities, or the Government, to address my concerns isn’t going to solve my current issues with patients though. I need to be proactive and get my message out there. I’m a firm believer in the power of social media. Time and time again, over the last few years, it’s been proven that a good social-media campaign can get you right where you want to be, so if that’s the case, that’s how I’m tackling it. No more Mrs Nice PM.
I’ve needed to see my own GP during the pandemic – and you know what, unsurprisingly, after an initial telephone call, my GP invited me in. No ifs, no buts; I needed a face-to-face appointment and I got one. I know that’s how it is across the UK. It’s far more convenient for me to have a telephone call than it is to take time out of my day to sit and wait in a room, so for me, telephone/virtual is usually the way forward. However, I have confidence in my GP and know that they’ll see me if they think they need to – so that’s the drum I’m banging from now on. The narrative before the pandemic was a push to online appointments. Clearly, the narrative has changed with public sentiment, so why am I the one feeling left in the dark on this? If the narrative has changed, surely we need to be told? We have incredibly vulnerable and elderly patients and I don’t want to be the one to say we can just jam everyone into the waiting room and hope no one has COVID.
This week, I’m making a concerted effort to push back. I’m not going to allow the narrative of no face-to-face appointments to define our reality. I’m going to spend a week posting about our daily workload, and the percentage of appointments we offer of each type. I’ve also decided I might start ringing a random selection of patients to see how they got on with their appointments. A satisfaction survey, you might say, because I’m pretty certain, as with all things social media, that the silent majority are actually pretty happy with their GPs; they just don’t shout about it.
September 24, 2021 at 6:56 am
I am glad you have the strength to do that, I wish I had. Feeling a bit like a punch bag .
September 24, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Lisa, I know what you mean.
I’m sick of being the punchbag – so I figure the best form of defence is attack.
September 24, 2021 at 7:07 am
Dear All
I commend Paula for this another option I also chose was to contact patients who had posted comments to our website on the phone. Th patient was first in shock I had contacted them direct when they being advised of situations 80% started to say they didn’t realise and apologised obviously there are a few that will not budge but it has opened some of the public’s eyes on our difficulties.
Whilst posting my comment I also send my thoughts and prayers to the incident in a Manchester surgery It should never be tolerated. As practice managers we also have to consider the safety and welfare of our staff working daily with the abuse the upset they feel. We went from being applauded to being abused.
Education is something else we are trying so standing firm on requests for medication being our first launch 1. Stop asking on the day you take your last medication 2 we need 5 working days to turn the request around to give us some time back 3. changes or stopping medications instructions from your specialist or consultant get a good understanding if possible when being discharged what is needed We are taking baby steps with this and we all are dedicated to delivering care so talk with us not at us!
September 24, 2021 at 7:24 am
Well done Louise! The call backs seem scary at first but even just contacting a handful as you say, can reap massive benefits if done carefully. People read the headlines, not the detail so you giving them that detail, as well as education, is pure gold!
September 24, 2021 at 12:11 pm
Louise,
I think you’re right, phone calls are the way to go.
Also agree about the patient education, we’re forever dealing with urgent. If everything is urgent, nothing can be done more quickly when it actually is ‘urgent’
September 24, 2021 at 7:07 am
I am with you every step of the way! We are preparing a similar approach; and I have responded to an MP’s question relating to a complaint with precisely this kind of statistical analysis.
September 24, 2021 at 12:12 pm
I despair that we’re having to even think about doing this!
September 24, 2021 at 7:21 am
Kick those heels up, girl – this is the a-ha moment you’ve been waiting for! Well done for choosing to do this. I am beating my drum all over the place encouraging practice managers to do just this right now and sounds like you picked up your own and just started banging…hats. off!
It’s brilliant the BMA, IGPM et al have got our backs. Their support is like Captain Marvel and Thor in the Avengers. They’re giving us some powerful, much-needed cover from those above. But who’s got your back garden? That’s you; like the Spider Man of your neighbourhood, only you can protect your practice and stand up for your team in particular. Patients know you.
And boy are they going to listen to you once you start hitting back.
My team has spent near on 8 hours dealing with some very nasty social media comments this week for a handful of practices. We’ve been monitoring what’s worked in how we’ve replied, what’s nose-dived and what’s made us sit back and go, you know what, the practice is missing a trick with that, good point.
Some of the feedback about triage and the messaging we’re giving out has enabled practices to make some subtle but powerful changes with our help. We’re pretty pleased about that.
Ultimately, as you can read, I’ve had far too much coffee for this time of the morning, but please stay strong and keep standing up for yourself. The gloves are off and Paula ain’t backing down. If you’re reading this, be more like Paula!
September 24, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Kara,
I think the more noise we make the better now. We’ve been well behaved for too long!
September 24, 2021 at 7:58 am
Remember how before the Pandemic so many of the GP bashers were squawking about Babylon Health and how much better it would be if only NHS GPs would also “embrace modern technology” and provide video consultations instead of patients having to traipse along to their GP surgery? What happened to that shout? They seem to have gone very quiet.
September 24, 2021 at 12:16 pm
Mary,
It’s all about the court of public opinion. I’m not sure what might be coming next.
September 24, 2021 at 8:14 am
I received an email this week from the ‘Change’ campaign to sign a petition to force the government to act and ‘force GPs to open their doors’ – the ignorant comment that accompanied this just made me sick.
September 24, 2021 at 12:19 pm
Nicole,
I’m very tempted to hold a practice open day at some point and have staff talk about what they do in a day.
I think a lot of people would be surprised what goes on in the average day. I’m tempted to start posting about the odd things that happen too, because I bet no-one would believe that either!
September 24, 2021 at 9:03 am
Well said Paula. I think we have to fight our own battles now as PMs at local level (IGPM is brilliant to chip away at those in their ivory towers (Javid for one!)), because NHSE and CCGs are deathly quiet, providing absolutely no support to defend what General Practice is actually doing, rather than the populist crap that afflicts social and MS Media at the moment. This is despite them having communications depts; there is an oxymoron in there somewhere.
On this note, I have been posting monthly infographics on our website to counter the misnomer that GP Practices are not seeing patients, also giving the numbers of calls, patient contacts, scripts, referrals and vaccinations. It seems to have had the right effect thus far.
September 24, 2021 at 12:26 pm
Robin,
I think this is the way forward, I’m betting we deal with double what the average person would think reasonable, we’re just really, really quiet about it.
Our GP’s and nurses are busy, and the admin team haven’t stopped, so where people get the idea that we’ve all gone home from I’ve no idea. I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain newspaper hasn’t helped.
September 27, 2021 at 11:02 pm
Would this video help?
As the GP crisis has ramped up over the years, GPs have not always explained well to patients the changes we’ve made as we’ve tried to improve access.
This poem aims offer a more accurate explanation than some of the media of General Practice at the moment.
Can be shared with patients/ public.
September 28, 2021 at 9:49 am
I like that.
I’m going to use it!
September 30, 2021 at 11:10 am
Completely agree with your article and absolutely agree that there is no justification for the abuse of staff. I’m pleased that you have a sympathetic GP of your own regarding phone call/face to face appointments however, I am going to play devils advocate now (it’s OK – I have my tin hat on).
Despite receiving a letter from his Consultant proposing the removal of a medication from his list, my husband’s surgery has not actioned this but instead he received a text message from a GP he has never seen/spoken to which stated ‘keep taking the tablets’. He has tried to book a telephone appointment with the GP he last dealt with but they will only book ‘on the day’ urgent calls i.e. no future dates. He does not consider it urgent & does not wish to deprive someone who needs an urgent appointment but it still needs to be discussed so why no option for a future appointment? His concerns are too detailed to be covered within the e-Consult system either.
While he would not go down the ‘social media’ route, it has left him feeling that the surgery (where he has been registered for over 30 years – and hardly set foot in there for most of them!) is only interested in fobbing people off via the quickest technology option rather than spend 10 minutes discussing his genuine concerns.
Technology has definite advantages but the risk is that if it is used to replace personal contact, patients can feel alienated which leads to frustration.