Unsworth Group Surgery set to change patient booking system

Unsworth Group Practice runs two surgeries in the borough, Peter House in Westhoughton and Blackrod Health Centre. 

It currently runs a typical GP appointment system, where patients have to ring reception to book in. 

The group has announced that from October 1 it will bring in an online triage system.

Patients will fill out forms, with clinical staff evaluating what action to take, be it an appointment or a prescription, for example. 

There has been backlash following the announcement, with service users and councillors raising concerns about it elongating the process of being seen. 

Unsworth Group maintains, however, that it will make practices more efficient and will free up the phone lines in the morning for those who can't access the forms. 

Patient and staff engagement lead Rebecca Lister said: "The feedback I have had from patients is they don't like how receptionists are deciding when they can and can't have appointments, as they are not clinical. 

Rebecca Lister and Dr Preeti Adma of Peter House (Image: Newsquest)

"Currently it is first come first served. Our receptionists find it frustrating that the last urgent appointment will be taken up by something like an ingrown toenail, but then an elderly person who really needs to be seen can't be seen because we have reached full capacity. 

"Now it will be done by the GPs. People have said can you triage appointments and make sure the right people are seen. 

"It has been so difficult to access the practice in the last few years." 

Dr Preeti Adma of Unsworth Group said: "It is to improve access, not to deny access to the cohort of patients not on the internet and who don't have smartphones. 

"It will make it easier to access services. All they have to do is pick up the phone and the receptionist will fill in the form for them." 

Rebecca added: "If people are utilising the form, the phone lines will be available for those elderly people who can't fill them in." 

She added that the surgery will share with patients when decisions are made, including online and via text, as well as with leaflets at the surgeries and in the post. 

Peter House Surgery (Image: Google Maps)

There will be a patient drop-in session about the scheme on July 26 at 10am at Peter House, as well as following sessions in the coming months. For more information, visit Unsworth Group's website: https://www.unsworthgroup.com/

However, the scheme has been met with backlash from the public. 

Cllr Arthur Price of Westhoughton North and Hunger Hill, where the Peter House surgery is based, said: "It is making it more difficult again for the patients. 

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"It is difficult getting through in the morning to make an appointment, but how will this affect the elderly and infirm and working people having to fill a form out. 

"Westhoughton is a growing place and there aren't enough doctors, but that is not the patients' fault." 

He added that he will mention this at council. 

Cllr Sean Fielding, portfolio holder for adults, health and wellbeing, said: "Both the council and local health services would always encourage people to ensure they are accessing the right level of care for their problem.

Blackrod Health Centre (Image: Google Maps)

"Clearly, we don’t want people who don’t need to see a GP taking up appointments and delaying access for those who do, and I appreciate that this is what the Unsworth Group Practice is seeking to avoid.

“However, the system of an online form isn’t going to be accessible to everybody, and so I hope that the practice has other ways that people can still get in touch so that vulnerable groups aren’t disadvantaged by this change.

“If done correctly, when combined with the proposed investment in the NHS by the new Labour government, this could finally end the 8am scramble for appointments that we had under the Tories these last fourteen years.” 

One member of the public, whose mother uses the Blackrod surgery, said: "There doesn't seem to have been consultation with the public. They are having drop-ins but it seems to be a foregone conclusion. 

"There are lots of comments about it on local Facebook groups. There is a lot of anxiety about it. 

"My mother, at 84, tries not to go and would only go in an emergency. This is another step, filling the form in."