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Holbeach's Littlebury Medical Centre's performance in NHS patient survey praised by practice manager Diane Simes




A GP practice manager has praised her staff after their service performed well in a patient survey.

Holbeach’s Littlebury Medical Centre was one of South Holland’s stand-out performers after a recent NHS questionnaire.

The surgery’s performances during appointments were particularly impressive - with 97% of patients saying they had trust in their healthcare professional during their last meeting, while 96% felt their needs were met.

Diane Simes (left) has praised Littlebury Medical Centre's performance
Diane Simes (left) has praised Littlebury Medical Centre's performance

A total of 75% reported having a ‘good overall experience’ - above a national average of 72%.

Littlebury’s practice manager Diane Simes was pleased to have received positive feedback from patients in a time where GP servies can get ‘a bit of a hard time’.

“Obviously we’re striving to improve on that, because we’d like 100% across the board,” she said.

“But a patient’s view of the practice, a GP surgery and the work a GP has done for them is only as good as the last appointment they’ve had.

“Our figures, I think, stack up pretty well compared to other practices. I think we’re doing pretty well here.”

Mrs Simes did add that surveys such as this one can be misleading due to the low amount sent out - and the even smaller return figures. She believes some patients who do send responses only do so because they have something specific to say.

One area the Littlebury practice did struggle with was providing ideal appointment slots, with 14% of patients getting to see their preferred GP when they wanted to - compared to a national average of 38%.

However, 68% described their experience of making appointments as ‘good’ (national average 56%) - and Mrs Simes is content with the service her staff provide.

“We don’t suffer from staff shortages here. Obviously we suffer from high demand,” she said.

“We give, generally as a rule where we can, appointments on the day. GPs don’t work all week, so if someone phones up on a Wednesday and asks for Doctor X but Doctor Y is the one carrying out surgery on that day, they’ll be offered an appointment with them.

“They can choose to take that or call back on another day when Doctor X is here. So 99.9% of the time the patient will say ‘okay I’ll accept that’.

“Lots of practices do book in advance, but that doesn’t meet the patient’s needs if they want to talk to a GP today. So it’s obviously their choice, but if they choose to speak to a GP on the day then they won’t always get the one they would like to speak to.”

Littlebury was only behind Gosberton Medical Centre and Swineshead Surgery for overall experience quality in our area.



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