The power of engagement: Parbold

Healthwatch Lancashire first visited Parbold library in March, during a coffee morning session, to engage with local residents about their health and social care services. We received feedback from a number of people about Parbold Surgery regarding the difficulty of getting an appointment. One person also shared their experience of a lack of privacy when speaking to the receptionist in a full waiting room.

As a result, we included Parbold Surgery in our Enter and View programme and conducted an Enter and View visit to the surgery on 22^nd June. Through feedback from patients and staff as well as observations of the environment, we recommended the following actions to help improve the service:

1. Ensure that waiting rooms are dementia friendly with a clock displaying the date, day and time.
2. Ensure the patient participation group is up and running and is clearly advertised so new members can join. This will help ensure clear communication with patients and the surgery.
3. Continue to educate and inform patients about any changes that are made to the surgery that directly impact the patients such as a newsletter and website updates.
4. Investigate ways that communication can be improved across the departments, so all staff are clear on new rules and practices through the use of meetings.
5. Look into the possibility of opening up more initial face to face appointments throughout the week to help patients.

You can read the full report here

Impact

We have since revisited Parbold library at their coffee morning session, to re-engage with members,  share the Enter and View report and collect feedback about their recent experiences with the surgery since our visit. The following feedback was received:

• One member of the group thought that the GP surgery had improved recently, and she was pleased about being able to book an appointment online, which she hasn’t been able to do in the past.
• Another individual said the GP Surgery had improved and they could now get a face-to-face appointment.
• One individual shared that they were still not happy with the service, although they would not expand on why this was the case. This individual was signposted to our independent Feedback Centre to leave their feedback anonymously.

Our Parbold Surgery is now on display in Parbold Library for local residents to read.

The library is open Tuesday – Saturday with the opening times available here.