Some change in the NHS

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health has an enormous task on his hands in England to bring about change in the NHS. We have seen how a state bureaucracy can fall to the grotesque and criminal when left untouched, and where dishonesty is rife with individuals being bullied and threatened.  I hope he can rely on the full support of Prime Minister Cameron.

Yesterday in a TV interview a doctors' receptionist described mornings at her general practise surgery - 'the phone never stops ringing and reception is full of patients - it's terrible', she said. She went on to say that she was the 'barrier' between the patients and the doctors. When appointment slots are filled 'what can I do'?

The discussion was about the '8 o'clock rush' which leaves patients angry and receptionists frustrated, and a training programme was being promoted for receptionists on how to handle these emotions. This was not a pretty sight, seeing a person set in her ways with no way out, except councelling.

I suggest a remedy - I hope this does happen in some places already - to alleviate the early morning desperate rush to get an appointment, and that is for doctors to collectively man the phones for their practises for the first hour or so, and maybe again later in the day, making appointments for each other for the urgent and important cases; ‘reception’ can then be asked to ring other patients back for future dates, maybe on some coded priority system.

It may take a while to bed in, but they can responsibly prioritise and reassurance with authority can be given to patients who may need nothing more than this. It will take pressure off receptionists who are probably being expected to do too much.

I would like to think that in time many of the problems currently experienced by the practices over demands for their services, and the worries and anger of patients will eventually diminish considerably.