Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil
You are assuming everyone is on the electoral roll and they are not. You are assuming people haven't moved away and informed the GP they have changed address or have even registered elsewhere. Many forgot to register with a doctor after moving until they are ill. You are assuming everyone is as intelligent as yourself, sadly many are not.
It is quicker and cheaper to send a letter to those patients who haven't been to the surgery for 5 years than it is to start trying to find out details in other ways
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Neil...I assure you that I assume nothing.
If a patient moves to another area..or even another practice, then their new GP will reqire the past notes of all the conditions that the patient has been treated for...surely it is not beyond the admin staff of the practice to realise that if notes are being asked for by another GP, itis because that patient is no longer with their practice...and they should then be taken off the register.
i know that not everyone is on the electoral roll...but there will be more peole on it than off it...so surely that is a good place to start.
GP's must have some sort of database of patients to work from too.
Yes, a letter is a cheap way to find out if a person is still in the area...but the cost of the letter is being inflated by a private company(a company that is in the market to MAKE money) is being used to do this work.
This work should be done by the admin staff of the practice.......it needs to be done on perhaps a yearly basis(or maybe every three years)...if the admin staff do not have the time to do it then surely they could either pay their own staff overtime to do it(I am sure they would be glad of an opportunity to earn a bit extra) or they could bring people in just to do this job.
Better still patients who haven't visited for five years could present themselves at reception and sign a computer printed form to say that they still wish to be registered with the practice.
I am averse to seeing a GP now while my health is good, but would not like to think that should the need arise I could not see a doctor.
I would be quite happy to fill in a form obtained from reception....and it does not even need to be posted...it could be dropped in a box at reception.
Better even than that is to be able to state your intention to stay with the practice on a computer screen...tap the box and it is logged...no paper, no waste and even cheaper.
This would be cost effective and it would fulfil the aim.