By Neil Huntingford
Our update this month is about the prac-tice’s website. Patients may have noticed that there are occasions when we’ve had to pause the appointment request section of the website. Like everywhere else, the Covid pandemic has affected our staffing levels, often at short notice when staff test positive and have to isolate. In the case of clinical staff, this means that appoint-ments have to be rearranged. This then impacts on staff available to process the on-line requests. When this happens, to avoid a backlog of requests building up and the potential of delaying patient care, we pause the system and urge patients who feel they need urgent support from the practice to contact us by phone – 01932 713399. We monitor the situation throughout the day to ensure we process patients’ requests as quickly and safely as possible.
We are aware that the website can be dif-ficult to navigate, so where possible, work continues to develop the website to make it easier for patients to use and give better functionality for staff. A new phone system is also being introduced that will allow more efficient call handling that automatically identifies patients and should allow us to answer more calls.
You can also get a GP video appointment seven days a week, including evenings, by using the Livi App on your smart phone. As a Sunbury Health Centre pa-tient, this service is free. Just go to livi.co.uk to register.
We expect staffing to improve over the coming weeks as the Covid wave peaks and begins to recede, thanks to the vac-cination programme and the public fol-lowing Covid guidelines.
Please help us all to stay safe by getting your Covid vaccinations, especially the booster jab, and continue to follow Gov-ernment Covid Guidelines.