Friends and Family Feedback – October 2025
We want to share a big thank you to the 650 patients who took the time to share their experience with our Practice in October. Your honest feedback is one of our most valuable tools. 95% of all respondents rated our services as either very good or good. This overwhelming positive result is a testament to the dedication of our entire team, and we are grateful for your support and kind words. Your comments are vital, as they help us celebrate what we’re doing well and, most importantly, identify where we need to focus our improvements to make sure we’re providing the best possible care for everyone.
We are delighted that this month’s feedback highlights a strong appreciation for the quality of care delivered by our clinical staff. We received numerous compliments specifically recognising our team’s professionalism, empathy, and thoroughness during consultations. Furthermore, a significant number of patients described their appointments as being prompt and efficient, which reinforces our commitment to respecting your time while providing excellent clinical service.
What we’re working on
📜 Administrative & Appointment Issues
A number of issues were raised by patients concerning conflicting information, appointment errors, and delays in administrative processes. Specific examples included patients being told they were ineligible for a scheduled vaccination upon arrival for their appointment, and reports of delays or failures in processing referrals following a discussion with a GP.
We have listened carefully to your feedback highlighting issues such as conflicting information, appointment errors, and delays in referral processing. We want to assure you that we are always actively reviewing and refining our processes and fully investigate any mistakes or delays. While we maintain a very low rate of formal errors, we take every concern seriously and are committed to improving administrative consistency. We hear your concerns and are constantly working internally to rectify any errors quickly and make our systems clearer for all patients.
📞 Enhancing Out-of-Hours/Working Patient Access and Communication
Feedback highlighted a struggle for working patients to utilise the triage service effectively. The primary concern relates to the limited scope for scheduling follow-up calls outside of typical working hours or over an extended time frame. Our non-urgent medical request triage platform is now open between 08:00 and 18:30. Follow-up appointment requests can be easily submitted online or by telephone and you can request a specific appointment during extended hours. We acknowledge that appointments outside of work hours are limited and highly sought after. To maximise these extended access slots, we partner closely with our PCN and the Bromley GP Alliance.
🩺 Ensuring Clinical Preparedness and Continuity of Care
Some patients expressed a lack of confidence during consultations when a clinician did not appear to have read their recent notes or was discussing an incorrect or irrelevant topic. This resulted in patients feeling the appointment was “a waste of time.” We acknowledge your feedback that clinicians may sometimes appear unfamiliar with your medical history or the reason for your visit, leading to appointments feeling like a waste of time. We apologise if you’ve experienced this, as our goal is for every clinician to be fully prepared before you arrive.
To ensure your clinician can focus entirely on you, we are actively working to improve their environment. A key initiative is introducing ambient AI to automatically transcribe consultations. This will reduce administrative burden, allowing our GPs to dedicate their full attention to patient care instead of note-taking. We are continuously seeking new ways to support our clinical team in this challenging landscape and are extremely proud of their dedication to our patients.
Things you’ve praised
🧑🏽⚕️ Highlighting Excellence in Patient Care
The most common positive themes in your feedback consistently relate to the high quality of care, the positive and helpful attitudes of staff, and the efficiency and promptness of the service. Patients frequently praised the GP and nursing staff for being thorough, informative, caring, and showing empathy. Specific mentions highlight doctors and nurses who listen to concerns, come up with resolutions, and explain the next steps clearly, offering a great sense of reassurance.
For instance, one patient remarked, “From the start Dr Lee sounded very positive… showed care and empathy of my situation, offered good advice,” while others noted, “I felt reassured that I was receiving good care and attention from the doctor. He asked pertinent questions, explained the next steps and made sure he was aware of any concerns that I had,” and “Dr called when scheduled and was engaged and made good suggestions.“
🏥 High Value Placed on Efficient and Prompt Service
Efficiency and promptness of our service were also highly valued. Many patients reported that their appointments were on time, prompt, and efficient, often highlighting the surgery’s ability to offer quick access for urgent issues. This led to feedback such as, “Very prompt phone call from doctor minutes after reporting issue to receptionist who prescribed antibiotics for UTI” and the praise for “Easy to book appointment, seen the same day and received the referral the same day.” Another patient simply stated, “Logged in on arrival and seen by doctor on time.”
👩🏻⚕️Staff Politeness and Professionalism Highlighted
Finally, staff at all levels, including receptionists, nurses, and doctors, were described as having a positive and helpful attitude, often being friendly, polite, and courteous. This positive demeanor contributed significantly to you feeling well looked after. Examples of this appreciative feedback include: “My appointment was on time didn’t have to wait and the nurse was really lovely and very informative” and a specific mention that “Nurse Jo was very friendly professional, capable, knew her job well.” Other quotes highlighted this positive professionalism by saying, “Listened to my concerns and came up with a resolution. Polite and courteous,” and “Friendly helpful doctor.“