Renewal of contract for Melbourne Grove Medical Practice

[mells]

Concordia Health's contract comes to an end in May 2009 so now is the time to ensure that the PCT is aware of the gross dissatisfaction of patients who have the misfortune of being with this once fine but now disastrous surgery privately owned by Dr Fradd who's philosophy is that a practise of 7,000 patients can be run with a single GP and a collection of nurses http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2008/03/simon-fradd-does-his-sums.html. The Melbourne Grove website states there are 4 GP's in fact 1 resigned, another is on extended sick leave which leaves just 2 GP's so he is well on target for getting down to just the 1 GP it would appear. Meanwhile he employs his 2 nephews with no medical background. The following link reveals this private firm to be one of the poorest performers in the country http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/GP/773079/Private-firms-score-less-quality-points/

It is now vital that complaints be directed to Email: [email protected]

The long suffering GP's are fantastic but moral is noticeably low and the receptionists rude and unhelpful

[Boris Karloff]

Errr ... correction - I was told that one of the two remaining GPs has also resigned!!!! Apparently they were threatened with redundancy earlier this year so that Concordia could offer more, cheaper, nurse-led consultations instead. Yes - we need to complain.

[ratty]

Can someone confirm who is left GP wise then. I udnerstood that EBG has left, PA is currently unwell, leaving SH and the other one (whose name I cannot remember but I think it is Dr J).

I think my family need to change if there is now only one GP there.

If you do not want to reply in open thread then please PM me.

[candj]

Ratty,

PA is currently our GP. We haven't seen her is a while because we haven't needed to (touch wood, thank God and all that). Is something the matter with her? I hope all is okay.

Is Dr. Johnson the other GP you are thinking of? It is such a shame that EBG has left as she was lovely and my oldest really liked her. Alas.

Thanks for any info on PA.

-C

[Boris Karloff]

Dr Haldane has left

[Zebedee Tring]

I am absolutely appalled to read that Dr H has left. She and Dr B-G were (and indeed are) excellent GPs. Dr J is also excellent but he must be under a lot of strain at the moment if he is the only GP left.

Dr H and co built up a really good practice before the PCT screwed them and awarded the contract to Concordia (an ironic name in view of the lack of concord in the practice at the moment). We will do our best to try to persuade the PCT not to renew Concordia's contract. But I fear that it is too late and that the excellent work carried out by Dr H etc has been almost totally undone.

[madonna]

Dr. Fradd is quoted as believing that 7000 patients only require 1 doctor supported by nurse practitioners.

He has achieve that aim. dr. Haldane leaves on Friday. Given the chaos and dissatisfaction engendered in the community surely it is clearly in order to approach Southwark PCT, who after all awarded Concordia a 3 year contract

in May 2006? Please contact hte forum and add your voice by adding comments and views on the website.

[ianr]

At the same time as the Melbourne Grove and Parkside contracts were awarded to Concordia, that for Sternhall Lane was given to a partnership of GPs who, as The Hurley Group, run three South London practices. See http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7549/1048-b?rss .

Does anyone know anything of these Hurley Group practices http://www.hurleygroup.co.uk/ and how they've fared? The Sternhall Lane one's catchment area includes a large part of ED.

[Cassius]

Dr J is also not 100% well and with all this strain might even retire early - then I would HAVE to find another practice (although the original nurses are great - not the new ones who make you feel they are doing you a favour seeing you).

[ratty]

Right - that's it - can anyone recommend anywhere else for a family of three with a one year old baby. Dr H leaving is the last straw!!!

[gingertom]

I used to be a patient at the Hurley Clinic in Kennington Lane before I moved to East Dulwich about 3 years ago. I think it may have been the group's only practice at the time. I really liked it although it was a large group practice.

I thought the clinical care was of a pretty good standard across the board and the senior GP's seemed particularly committed and caring. Looking at the Hurley Group website it looks as though most of them are still there which would seem to be a positive thing. They were great too with both of my children.

As seems inevitable in (South East?) London I sometimes had to wait for appointments with a particular GP although as I am reasonably healthy this was not a huge problem and certainly better than at my current practice (which is not Melbourne Grove).

I would have no hesitation in trying them out if I wasn't about 20 yards outside their catchment area.

[Jennys]

I too have been very shocked to see excellent, dedicated doctors leaving this practice and the introduction of the hopeless and potentially life threatening telephone consultation system.

I have also recently experienced mistakes each time with the repeat prescription service as the practice seems apparently to lose prescriptions or give them to the wrong person or pharmacy.

[Jeremy]

It really sucks. On two occasions they've not issued my repeat prescriptions because they mistakenly thought I was overdue for a review. Instead of phoning me up to tell me, they just ignored the requests.

The telephone consultation system is infuriating, and when you eventually have the call - and manage to convince them that you need to see a doctor - you need to wait another 2 or 3 days for the appointment.

It's convenient (in theory) because it's so close to my house, but I really need to get off my arse and find an alternative.

[Otto]

Hi - I wrote to one of the links above and just received this answer....it looks like a standard response, but, if they have to keep sending the same standard response perhaps we'll get somewhere re: this...

melbourne grove used to be great and it is a pity they have changed the way appointments are handled. see below...xo. otto

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear of the problems you are

experiencing with Melbourne Grove Surgery.

Under the NHS Complaints Procedure, Southwark Primary Care Trust has no

remit to directly investigate complaints against family practitioners.

All practices have an in-house complaints procedure to enable patients

to raise concerns about their provision of services. With your

agreement, therefore, I would be happy to forward a copy of your

complaint to Adam Hurd, the practice's designated Complaints

Administrator and request that he investigates the issues you have

raised and replies to you directly.

Once we have passed your complaint to the practice, we will continue to

monitor the progress of your case. You can also contact us at any time

for advice or if you are unhappy with the outcome of the practice's

investigation.

If you prefer, I could ask him to contact you by telephone or email to

discuss your concerns informally.

You could also contact the Patient Advice and Liason Service (PALS) who

can taken up your concerns with the practice on your behalf. Their

number is 0800 58 77 170. A link to the service is attached:

http://www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk/patient_information/patient_advice/

I look forward to hearing from you with confirmation of how you would

like to proceed.

Daniel Marshall

Complaints Manager

Southwark PCT and Adult Social Care

Ground Floor

Woodmill Building

Neckinger

London

SE16 3QN

[madonna]

does that mean that each and everyone one has individually got to file a list of mistakes made by MCGP?

can there not be a collective application from patients? what about involving our councillors or local M.P.?

[KoolBananas]

I've been at the centre for a few years now and never even met my doctor... even with various trips to and from the place do I have a place to comment on the ability and competency of "my" doctor?

[Otto]

Well - I did not say anything about competency - my complaint was about the procedure for securing an appointment which is a pretty difficult process for anyone and particularly if you are a working parent with two kids in school...best, susan

[madonna]

when I checked that useful web-site lead, www.healthcarerupublic.com, (thanks for alerting me to it) I read that Concordia's Parkside and Melbourne Grove medical practices were deemed to be poor performers

"more than half of practices run by private companies score below the England average in the quality framework, according to a G.P. survey. The statistics were based on 2006/7. The England average score was 954 points. Melbourne

Grove scored 803." Given the history of complaints still appearing on this web-site, one can only speculate

how Melbourne Grove might score in the next survey? Can anyone provide a solution or an alternative?

[ianr]

The actual article is at http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/GP/772950/Exclusive-Private-firms-score-less-quality-points/ . I think btw that 803 was the Parkside score; MG scored 828.

They were the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) scores, obtainable in full at http://www.qof.ic.nhs.uk/

The "Total achieved results" for MG were:

2004-05: 810 points (out of ?1050) 7% lower than PCT average

2005-06: 881 points (out of 1050) 9% lower than PCT average

2006-07: 828 points (out of 1000) 10% lower than PCT average

There are detailed breakdowns within the tables which you can see by ticking the selection boxes.

[Otto]

another answer to my complaint...

Thank you for your email. I appreciate your point about receiving phone calls during working hours. We are trying to arrange for telephone consultations before and after work, as well as Saturdays. We are restricted to an extent by the PCT 'Local Enhanced Service' agreement which stipulates that before 8am and after 630pm we cannot offer telephone consultations. We have explained to the PCT that this is too restrictive to some patients. I hope that we will shortly be able to expand the timing as a result of this.

Regarding your description of the service before telephone consultations, I am afraid that your experiences were not shared by the vast majority of patients; waiting times to see doctors and nurses were between one and two weeks (emergencies, were, of course, seen on the same day regardless). We had considerable discontentment amoungst patients about this situation. Southwark PCT had long since been trying to persuade us to embrace telephone consulting to improve the speed and convenience of the service. We were sceptical until we received a letter from the Department of Health (sent to all UK practices) advocating the use of telephone consultations and illustrating case studies of its positive effect on patients. We followed this advice and - whilst it is not perfect - we have found it to be far better than the previous model of care. We have found that only 50% of patients who contact the surgery actually need a face to face appointment (many need simply to pick up a prescription, for example), and as a result, waiting times to be seen have improved hugely. The previous model allowed any patient to book an appointment directly with a doctor, however inappropriate, which caused a considerable backlog in waiting times. Patients who need to be seen on the same day are always seen, and through the new system waiting times have decreased from 1-2 weeks to 48 hours. Most patients have found this to be a big improvement.

However, I recognise your concern and I will do my utmost to expand the times of telephone consulting.

I you have any further concerns please do let me know

Best wishes

Adam

[madonna]

the PCT advise that the initiative upon which they awarded a contract to Concordia was based on the Stour

programme which clearly states that the first telephone contact should be with the most senior medical practitioner available; not a model experienced by patients at Melbourne Grove.

[mixulee]

I'm really really disappointed. Melbourne Grove to me was a shining example of an innercity NHS service that worked really well. Dr B-G in particular was an outstanding GP who went out of her way to help my family on every occasion that we needed it. As far as I recall, Dr B-G, H and J formed a consortium and put a bid together to run the practice but were either outbid or outcompeted by Concordia. No doubt Concordia promised to be able to process patients more quickly and more cost effectively than anyone else but really - I know of course this was meant to be an example of internal competition delivering "value" for taxpayers but it's utterly clear here that whatever marginal cost savings have been achieved ultimately the community has been the biggest loser. As a dyed in the wool Labour supporter this is one of the most damaging consequences of an increasingly moronic target and market forces obsessed government. At the risk of sounding like an angry Daily Mail reader, whatever happened to the common sense notion of not changing something that clearly works ?

[mells]

I feel the same way. I have been with the practice since Dr Grant was there and the the doctors who were there until they jumped ship were brilliant. I have never previously had any cause for complaint. What makes me most angry is that this private company were awarded the contract no doubt on the basis of providing quality healthcare to the local community for a fee and they are still getting that fee and no doubt making a handsome profit at our cost.

Any suggestions as to how we can most effectively fight this issue would be welcome for the sake of us all. This is a far bigger issue than the failing telephone booking system it is about being denied access to qualified GP's and dealing with the clinical errors of under qualified staff. Far from being a modern system for the benefit of patients it is a third world system which the community has no confidence in.

[KalamityKel]

Pah we want patient numbers not percentages from surveys... tsk!

Anyone can say 50% of the survey said blah blah blah after only asking two people!

I know this topic has been discussed in great depth but I STILL can not understand how on earth telephone consultations are effective and cost efficient... it's not rocket science...

[cate]

I am so sad about what has happened to this place. I love Dr. J. but he looks so low. I have had two recent problems with the surgery, and wanted to ask if anyone has any opinion or experience to share of the locums or practice nurses? I won't go into details here but would be grateful for any feedback. Is it true that Dr. J. is the only permanent doctor there?

Point me in the direction of where to write to complain.

Also, is anyone on here registered with Sternhall Lane surgery? Any opinions?

Thanks.