Letter to Editor: Lister House-The vision of the future?
Politics / Tue 18th Jun 2019 at 08:04am
Dear Editor,
I am shocked that anyone can have any complaints about the Lister House Super Surgery!
Do people not realise this is the “vision”of the future according to West Essex CCG. That’s what the 3,500 patients who were thrown out of Osler House Surgery were told last year. It didn’t matter that those with no other means of transport now have to catch two buses just to get to their nearest GP surgery or if they are physically unable to use public transport have to make the trek along a route with no footpaths. We should all have been grateful because of “Lister House”.
Osler was closed because according to WECCG it was to small and financially not viable but now a year on it would seem that Lister House has turned into the nemesis for WECCG that once was Osler.
Maybe while you are asking Lister patients how they are coping with the new ” super surgery” Mr Editor it would be a good idea to ask all the other surgerys and ex osler house patients how they are coping as well.
Lastly I am cannot believe that the gentleman who wrote to you felt he had to say that his wife and daughter are still waiting for smear tests because there were no test kits available. How many more patients are not being given routine but in some cases life saving tests?
Let’s have some answers WECCG.
Name and address supplied
Gary
2019-06-18 18:40:22
Why was the "new" Lister House Medical Centre built? Was it to improve services to patients? If so it has, so far, failed, sadly. I have been a patient of Lister House Doctors Surgery for over 50 years and today witnessed stressed staff, patients and doctor. I was saddened and disgusted at how a once great surgery was struggling to provide services patients needed. This comment is not meant to suggest that staff are in any acting in a ambivalent or laissez-faire manner but if supply is outnumbered by demand then even the most dedicated staff member would become disheartened. West Essex CCG and Robert Halfon please start standing up for patients instead of using the lack of funds or the slogan the NHS is properly staffed and resourced. It doesn't register anymore with patients waiting three weeks or more to be seen.
jhumphreys84
2019-06-19 08:18:25
I've only been a patient at Lister House for 5 years, but i can completely agree with Gary's comments above. While the staff i believe are trying as hard as they can something has catastrophically broken down at this surgery and it has produced a number of negatives, namely: Waiting times: As mentioned above, it will take over 1 hour to get an appointment. This used to be 40 minutes which was bad enough, and the practice manager before the old surgery was built said that this was going to reduce because they were training staff and improving the lines. As a result, queues are now out of the door, emergency appointments are being used up for routine stuff and some people just cannot get in at all. Not able to see a named GP: I have only seen my actual GP once. His appointments book is constantly full. As a result of this any repeat prescriptions are now being blocked until i see him to discuss. I can't see him as he's always fully booked. No longer can i get any prescriptions. Closing of Osler House: Yes, this has had an impact on numbers, but surely, and this is what i cannot understand, the funding would have been switched to Lister to deal with this. After all it has the building infrastructure to do so. It seems like none of this money has actually been put into servicing the extra patients Cancelling appointments: the practice of calling you at 6:25pm the day before your appointment in the hope you don't answer to cancel your appointment has to stop. If you miss your call you have no way of calling back as the surgery line closes at 6:30pm and with current wait times you have no chance. The practice manager has recently been responding to questions on the NHS website, however, cites a BBC panorama programme to state that this is a national problem. While yes, getting a GP appointment it a national problem, there are a number of problems, listed above which are unique to this surgery and should be managed properly. Sadly Robert Halfon cannot step in until first the practice manager has been written to with complaints, and then if people aren't happy with that then the CCG and then healthwatch England etc. So there a re a few steps people have to take. Now many people won't be bothered to take those steps, so i doubt it'll even get far enough to land at his door. But i agree, now is the time for him to step in because of this extraordinary circumstance the surgery finds itself in. People's health in Harlow is really going to suffer and i would expect the unexpected death rate has started to rise and it really needs intervention, this has to be a concern for Robert and with the focus on building new houses etc, this problem is only going to get worse unless a solution is found quickly.
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