Read one Sefton Residents experience with their GP, NHS 111 and North West Ambulance Service.

Healthwatch Sefton routinely speaks with Sefton residents about their personal experiences with their local NHS health and social care providers. One resident opened up about an experienced when they were unwell and struggled to get an appointment with their GP, as they were not allowed to make an appointment over the telephone. The surgery advised them it was impossible to make appointments over the phone and to use the online service, e-Consult. The patient struggled with the online form and felt too unwell to use it and had stated this to the receptionist.

“I kept telling the receptionist, I didn’t feel very well to do this.” – Patient A.

Patient A decided to phone NHS 111 for help, who sent out an ambulance. The ambulance team confirmed that the patient had a lung infection and needed antibiotics.

Upon realising an ambulance was coming out, Patient A said: “I said I don’t want to waste the service, I don’t want an ambulance. I was just wanting to see a doctor or get advice, thinking maybe a prescription.”

“If the ambulance team could tell it was a lung infection from listening to my breathing and checks, surely a GP could have.”  The paramedic called the surgery and arranged a prescription, which Patient A felt was the job of the GP surgery and waste of NHS resources.

Healthwatch Sefton asked Patient A “How did the experience make them feel?” Patient A said: “When a patient is saying I really don’t feel well enough to be doing this, the GP receptionist should have listened to me. I feel this isn’t good enough. I

am 76 years old and I was on my own. There is no compassion or empathy. I felt the receptionist had a speech and there was no moving away from this. I felt exasperated, guilty and ashamed that an ambulance was coming. I was taking up two paramedics time and an ambulance.”

Healthwatch Sefton Lead Officer, Diane Blair said: “Healthwatch Sefton recognises the value of listening to people and making sure their voices are heard. We believe that health and care providers can best improve services by listening to people’s experiences and we took the time to support Patient A, to share their story about accessing services from their GP practice, NHS 111 and North West Ambulance.”

“We ensured that all 40 GP practices across Sefton, got to read the impact of accessing care and treatment when a patient is not feeling well and we attended a meeting of practice managers working across South Sefton to talk about the issues. We shared the patient story with the local NHS commissioner who welcomed receiving the patient feedback and fed this into primary care services.”

Diane concluded: “We shared this story at a time when work was taking place to plan how access could be improved as part of an NHS delivery plan. We also know that the GP practice no longer tells patients that they have to use the online system ‘e-Consult’ to make an appointment.”

Julie Treharne, Head of Communications and Engagement at North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust got in touch with Healthwatch Sefton after reading the story and said:

“Whilst I am of course pleased to hear that ‘Patient A’ had a good experience of using our NHS 111 and 999 service, her story highlights the need for all of us to not become entirely reliant on digital access.  Whilst digital innovations undoubtedly bring about improvements we should always remember that for some they are not an inclusive or accessible option and that we should always bear this in mind in the way we deliver our services. In my team’s field of communications, this means not relying exclusively on social media or online information and remembering that traditional media, printed communications and face to face engagement may be better options for some patient groups or communities.”

For the full report, please download the file below.