Dear Patient

The Cambridge Practice would like to acknowledge your feedback and the criticism prevalent on social media regarding long waiting times on our telephone system and difficulties encountered in getting an appointment.

We sincerely hear and understand your frustrations and are working closely with NHS England to try to meet the unprecedented demands we face.

Post lockdown we have been experiencing an unprecedented level of demand on our inbound calls to the practice. Despite our best efforts in opening additional call lines, we are still finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with this demand. Our inbound call data shows we are receiving 8 000 – 12 000 inbound calls per month, averaging nearly 3 000 calls per week.

This does not reflect the increased workload and complexity of direct patient care and administrative services during the pandemic and post lockdown. This also does not take into account our participation in the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme. This increased level of demand is unfortunately not unique to us and is being seen across the country. We are looking at innovative ways, adapting and restructuring our teams in an effort to provide a more effective service for you.

We now all face new challenges. General Practice is not as it was before the pandemic. The pandemic itself has brought new ways of working and challenges that have affected the team humanly and our pre-pandemic structure for patient access. We have developed Care Navigators who are trained to triage and signpost you to the appropriate service you require or our new urgent care same day access service to see a clinician face to face.

It is very important to us that we are open, honest, and transparent with the challenges we are facing as a practice and the increased patient demand.

For calls relating to an urgent medical problem that you feel needs to be assessed or addressed that day, please call from 8am to speak to one of our Care Navigators who will triage and signpost you appropriately.

For calls relating to investigation results or queries about your medical record, you can access this information via the NHS APP online access by downloading the NHS APP and registering.

For calls to discuss your investigations further or book a routine blood test you can contact the practice later in the day or book an appointment yourself if you sign up for online access or do this via our front desk service.

For calls relating to care, you are receiving from a Specialist Team at the hospital, we kindly ask that you contact them directly for support.

We are here, we are listening, and we are working hard to make sure that you are seen to in the appropriate time, by the appropriate person. Hopefully we can work together to improve the outcomes for everyone.

Thank you

The Cambridge Practice Partners