Accessing Care and your GP Practice

• Over 400 people shared their experiences of accessing their GP practice last year
• When contacting their GP, most people preferred to do this by telephone
• When using digital platforms, most people did not find this very easy
• When asked about quality of care, most people felt it had got worse since changes were made to the way they accessed their GP
• Most people were unhappy about the type of appointment they were offered at their practice, however many reported they preferred the different options available
• Many people struggled to get through to their GP on the telephone
• Many people self-cared if they were unable to get an appointment

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group provided a response to the recommendations in the report. Some of the imporvements that patients can expect to see are as follows:

• Will work to resolve some of the ongoing issues by improving telephone access to practices
• Will be asking GPs to offer substantially more appointments as from April 2022
• Will be asking practices to offer additional face to face, telephone and online appointments
• The new nationally commissioned Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS) (with referral from GP practices), has been introduced into Bolton. The service allows GP practices to directly refer patients with a range of minor conditions for a consultation with a community pharmacist