Due to the unprecedented levels of telephone-based appointments which the practice is being called upon to respond to, we are finding that patients are not always available when they are called by the GP.

Whilst our doctors will try to call again, this causes backlogs to arise, creating further delays for other patients and increasing the workloads faced by our GPs.

In order to ensure that this does not become unmanageable, Kingswood Surgery has implemented the following procedures:

For a missed pre-booked telephone appointment:

• The GP will attempt to call the patient twice. If unsuccessful the appointment will be treated as a  patient non-appearance.
• Both attempts to call the patient will be recorded on the patient's EMIS record.
• If the patient subsequently calls, they will be invited to re-book the appointment for another day or be redirected to the practice's eConsult system.
• The patient will not be able to have a telephone consultation with a GP that day.

For a missed triage call:

• The GP will attempt to call the patient twice.
• Both attempts to call the patient will be recorded on the patient's EMIS record.
• If unsuccessful, in some very urgent cases the second call may include a direct request for the patient to call back to the surgery. However, patients should be aware that current wait times can be up to 20 minutes to get through to reception at busy times of the day.
• Please note, that once you get through to reception, it may not be possible to have your call forwarded to the GP at that time, as they may be conducting another appointment with another patient. 
• Patients who call back having missed their calls from the GP, but have not received instructions to call back, will be asked to call the following day or use eConsult as an alternative option.