We have traditionally operated on a personal list basis. Each doctor has their own list of patients, so that our 7,000 patients are distributed fairly.
This ensures that work-load is distributed fairly equally and so each doctor can actually cope. We believe that if a doctor is personally responsible for their list of patients, then they will get a better standard of care than if the patients are seen by different doctors, each leaving the responsibility to the next one. Doctors have different consulting styles. They have different ways of ordering the medical notes.
If your doctor is away from the surgery doing sessions at the hospital or Health Authority, or is on holiday, then the covering doctor will do their best and sort out any easy problems for you. We make it a policy that referrals of patients to hospital are only done by the usual doctor, for very good reason.
We certainly don’t mind second opinions, and sometimes encourage it! We realize that ladies with gynaecological problems may prefer to see a lady doctor, and men likewise.If a patient simply cannot see eye-to-eye with a particular doctor, then please write to the practice manager and ask to change doctors. It shouldn’t be a problem if the patient is a reasonable one.