World Kindness Day – be kind to GP practice staff

Since the pandemic there has been a misperception that practices are not seeing many
patients which people find frustrating, but practices have always kept their doors open as a service, they have just been operating in a different way with a greater emphasis on remote assessments.
 
More face-to-face appointments are now available, but many practices have kept video and telephone consultations as they now have the technology to do this. If you are assessed as needing a face-to-face appointment or if you request one you will still have one although you may have to wait a bit longer in some cases. In September there were over 721, 000 GP appointments in South Yorkshire, 72.4% were face-to-face and 24.1% were remote appointments (mainly telephone).
 
Some people also feel frustrated when they can’t get an appointment as quickly as they
would like. Surgeries are working hard to cope with additional demand which includes
bringing in more staff in different professional roles to help. Extra funding and support are also being shared across South Yorkshire to make even more appointments available.

Urgent appointments are always available, and people will be seen urgently if needed. The reception teams in GP practices are trained care navigators who will ask patients questions to ensure they get to see the most appropriate health care professional, in the timeliest manner.
  
Dr David Crichton, GP and Chief Medical Officer at NHS South Yorkshire said: “GP practices across South Yorkshire are working hard to improve services for patients. We ask that patients make sure they are kind and respectful to all staff at their GP practice, they are there to help you and get you the service you need.

“We understand that when patients call their practice, they are likely to be feeling ill or
worried and may have had to wait on hold for a while. Please know that this is because we are dealing with many enquiries and trying to get through patients in the best way possible.
 
“We know that this can be frustrating but please keep in mind that our practice staff are just trying to help people, they are doing their best to get through everyone as quickly as possible, so please treat them with kindness and respect.
 
“I am pleased to say that negative behaviour does only comes from a very small minority of people so I would like to thank all patients throughout South Yorkshire for their ongoing patience and support.”
 
One Sheffield practice knows the benefits of being on the receiving end of kind gestures, a city centre practice has recently had a flurry of thank you emails, cards and biscuits. Dominic Carrell, Locality Manager for the practice, said “Receiving kind words from our patients has really boosted the staff at the practice. All GP practice staff just want to provide quality services and help their patients be healthy. Receiving a thank you every now and again really does help everyone keep going through these trying times.”