Dear Patients

At Blithehale Medical Centre, we take immense pride in providing quality healthcare services to each and every one of you. However as you may be aware, we are much like the rest of the NHS and are facing immense challenges. It is important for us to share some of these challenges with you. 

The primary challenge we are facing is a shortage of healthcare professionals in our practice. This is a challenge which many GP Practices are currently facing, This shortage includes GPs, nurses, and support staff. This directly impacts our ability to offer appointments as quickly as we have been able to over the past few years. The current government aim is for patients to receive a GP appointment within two weeks and we are reaching this target for the vast majority of our 15,000 patient population. 

All of your appointment requests are being looked at by clinicians (not admin staff) who are trying to allocate appointments based on clinical need. This may mean that you may have to wait longer for routine appointments. We understand that this can be frustrating but currently it is the safest way to allocate appointments. To reduce wait times we are also offering remote consultations, directing you to other trusted healthcare services such as the local pharmacy or our extended access service where appropriate. 

We want to assure you that we are actively exploring all possible options to help improve our service. We are actively recruiting additional healthcare professionals, streamlining our processes, and investing in resources to enhance our capabilities.

Your health and well-being remain our priority so please continue to contact us where needed. We are committed to providing the best possible care and ensuring that your medical needs are being safely met. We kindly request your co-operation and understanding in the changes to appointment scheduling, wait times and treatment plans. 

Thank you for your patience, understanding and for being a valued member of our practice.

Published: Jun 9, 2023