We are extremely busy and we have more clinicians working in the team than before the pandemic. We have a diverse skill mix to ensure patients are seen by the most appropriate clinician with the most relevant knowledge & experience of the conditions presented.
Demand on the practice services has increased significantly over the last 18 months as patients need support with all the medical services that we provided pre COVID, plus and long COVID help. We are providing all this support whilst also providing a COVID vaccine program and preparing for the flu & COVID booster program.
We have increased our complete team ensuring dedicated telephonists are available to take patient calls. We now have a queuing system to advise you of your position in the queue. Average wait times for call answering is 25 minutes, reaching 45 during our busiest times in the morning. This is not due to the receptionists ignoring the phones but due to unprecedented demand on the service.
There is a lot of support and information on our website together with pre set contact forms for various departments. We hope this assists anyone that is unable to spend a long period of time in a call queue.
Please be patient with the team, they are not hiding behind Covid, they are not sitting with their feet up drinking coffee, they are answering the many phone calls we are receiving each day.
We assure you the whole team is working hard to support patients safely and in a timely manner whilst facing the challenges that the nationwide Pandemic has presented to us.
We thankyou for your continued support and understanding
The team at The Vernon & Lanes Medical Centre