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Extended Access

NHS England are making extra funding available to CCGs for use in order to improve access to GP services, by offering more appointments with GPs and Nurse Practitioners.

To help us to offer more appointments at times and locations that would be suitable for service users, we’d like to know your views on services as they are at the moment, how you access them currently, and how you’d like to access them moving forward.

Additional GP appointment slots may be delivered as routine pre-bookable appointments at evenings and weekends. This may not be in your local surgery, but would be offered at other locations across Calderdale.

People told us:

A summary of the key findings from the engagement are listed below:

  • The top four aspects of service that were seen as the most important (ranking 8-10) in order were:
    • Good care and treatment 92.6%
    • Being able to book an appointment 90.7%
    • A clean and safe place 73.7%
    • Staff being able to see my medical history 69.8%
    • Location 59.6%
    • Having my communication needs met 53.3%
  • The least important aspects of a service (ranking 1-3) were:
    • Bi-lingual staff and interpreters 60%
    • Easy access to the building 57.8%
  • This trend did not hold true for disabled people who rated access highly (score 7 and above) and Asian/Asian British people who rated bilingual staff highly.
  • There were a good number of respondents (48.7%) who stated they would travel between 15-30 minutes to receive a service, 43.5% stated they wanted to travel under 15 minutes. Looking at the table the results show that 62.8% of those responding travel by car to an appointment, this may account for people being prepared to travel up to 30 minutes.
  • For equality there was a difference in people ability or preference in terms of travel times, some of the groups were more likely to walk, use public transport or taxi’s than the overall sample. This may have impacted on people choice about how long they were able to travel.
  • Respondents told us that for a same day appointment the most convenient time for the majority of people responding (60.9%) would be 6:30-8pm Monday to Friday. With 67.6% stating they would not attend an appointment from 6:30am to 8:00am.
  • The results for equality confirmed this finding.
  • For those responding to additional appointments on a Saturday there was no clear time that was presented as the most convenient. For both routine (23.2%) and same day appointments (21.5%) the time of 10am-12noon seemed to be the most popular option, with 8am-10am not being favoured by some (27.4%). Looking at the data it would appear that most of the times offered would be favoured by a good majority of the population. For Sunday a similar picture emerged with no clear indication of preferred times.
  • There were some differences in preference by equality group, but this mainly followed the trend outline above, with a distinct preference for appointments on a Saturday rather than Sunday. Disabled and older people were less keen on early morning and later afternoon appointment
  • The majority of respondents still prefer face to face contact (96.6%). The most favoured technology was the telephone (34.3%) with other types of technology using internet technology only favoured by 27.4% of those responding.
  • Telephone appointments were second choice, with Asian/Asian British people putting this at near 50%. Using apps and online were least popular with Asian/Asian British, disabled people and carers.
  • Most people responding would wait until the practice (47.6%) is open or use NHS 111 (40.6%) or go to the pharmacy for advice (30.6%). There were still a significant number of responses who would go to A&E (20.5%).

What we are doing

The findings from the engagement will be used to inform the development of a specification which will improve access to GP services across Calderdale. The specification will take into consideration the findings from previous and recent engagement to ensure any development are informed by public views.

Consideration would need to be given to the location and facilities of any extended services, with practices needing adequate parking and locations on or near public transport links. The number of people walking, over 20% of the respondents may mean that they live locally to their practices or that they have no other means of transport, as this was not asked we cannot speculate.

A timeline for these developments will aim to ensure that arrangements are in place for extended access in Calderdale in Spring 2018.

Further information on the progress of these developments will be available on the CCG website and through local practice websites and information mechanisms.

Any improved access will be publicised using a clear communication plan.

The findings of this work will be shared through our existing networks and the report published in the get involved section of Calderdale CCG website. Visit www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk for more information.

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