Dalyellup Family Medical Centre Patient Survey Results.

 

Towards the end of last year, we asked our patients if they would complete a survey about our Practice. Two hundred and forty-three surveys were completed; thank you for participating.

The results showed that the majority of our patients are very happy with the service provided by Dalyellup Family Medical Centre and we compare well to other practices this size across Australia.

There is always room for improvement and we as a Practice take this seriously. One area of concern for a few patients was the waiting time when Doctors are running late. We often discuss this at team meetings and where possible we let patients know that the Doctor is running late as soon as we can, in some cases asking the patient to wait until we call them before they come in. Sometimes the Doctor is running late because a patient earlier in the day required a longer time than was actually allocated for the appointment. We do offer short and long appointments to try to reduce this, but not all patients make us aware that their problem is complex and will take longer than a normal appointment time causing the Doctor to run late on those days. We will continue to work on this.

 

Being able to see the clinician of choice was an issue for some of our patients. We try hard to give patients appointments with their clinician of choice but we are not always able to do this. On most days we keep some appointments for each Doctor for something urgent on the day. We do have some Doctors who work part time and some Doctors who provide services to the hospital, which means they are not here every day. When you attend Dalyellup Family Medical Centre you are patients of the Practice, and with that in mind, we can usually get you an appointment with another Doctor at the Practice who can assist you until your Doctor of choice is available.

 

There were some questions where the survey was not completed and patients did say they were unable to answer some questions as they did not know the answer or had not used the service. Based on those questions, the following information may be useful.

 

Obtaining a home/other visit:

• Doctors will do home visits when necessary and if they feel it is appropriate to do so.
• Some of our Doctors do nursing home visits.
• Three of our Doctors have admitting rights to the St John of God Hospital.

 

Opportunity for making complaints:

• There is a box in reception with some forms for patients to give us feedback both positive and negative. The responses can be anonymous if the respondent wishes.
• You can discuss your complaint with your Doctor.
• You can discuss your complaint with the Practice Manager.
• We have a policy/procedure we follow if a complaint is made.

 

After hours service:

• A Doctor from the Practice is on call when the Practice is closed.
• After hours call the Practice on 9795 6422 and there will be a recorded message giving the number of the Doctor on call.
• The Doctor will give you advice, or in some cases, may arrange to meet you at the Practice so that you can be seen personally, or in cases of emergency, will direct you to the hospital.
• Fees do apply if you are seen afterhours at the Practice by one of the Doctors.

 

The results of this survey in 2017 were compared to the results of the last survey done in 2014 and we are happy to say that we have improved in all areas.

Again, we would like to thank you for your participation in the survey and we will endeavour to take on board your suggestions and continue to improve.