Important Patient Notice – 09/03/2022

Dear Registered Patient at Hadwen Health,

Introduction

The last two years have seen the pressure on General Practice increase beyond all expectations. The Covid-19 pandemic brought increased workload, new ways of working, and new directives from the Government. In addition to providing our normal range of services, we have also led the way in vaccinating against Covid-19 (Gloucestershire currently has the highest rate of vaccinations in the Country).
We want to reassure you all that we have taken great steps to ensure we have continued to keep you at the centre of our decision making, and patient care and safety has remained our number one priority throughout this challenging period .
Changes to our Service

In May 2020, we were encouraged by NHS England to use an online consultation platform, and became one of the early adopters of a system called eConsult. Many of you liked eConsult, most of you, however, did not. Several audits of eConsult took place between mid and late 2021, which revealed that overall, the system was an inefficient use of our limited resources. Feedback from patients was also invariably negative due to the system not being user friendly; we therefore took the decision at the start of 2022 to permanently switch eConsult off.

In the past two months we have undertaken project work to investigate how you access our services, what you want and need from us, and how we can make ourselves easy to access, deliver a service that is manageable and, as a healthcare provider, become more resilient. Below is an outline of how we plan to provide our services going forward:

New website

Our website has been updated and now includes more information, links to other services, self-referral forms, online forms and contact details- www.hadwenhealth.co.uk. Please do take a look.

Staff training

We are investing a significant amount of funding into care navigation training for all our Patient Advisers. Over the coming months you will notice that when you phone us to book an appointment you will be asked more questions about your condition. This is so we can book you an appointment with the most appropriate clinician. This will not always be a GP. Please see the information overleaf about the different staff we have available for you to access.

Investing in new specialist staff

We have recruited several specialists in the practice to support our patient needs. These specialists will often have more availability than our GPs, be specialists in their field and therefore be able to offer you the advice and guidance in a more timely fashion.

Increasing the use of text messaging and phone calls

We want you to phone us if you would like an appointment. As above, this will give us the opportunity to ask you about your condition and best direct your concerns. We have also recently started to text patients with links they can use to book their own appointments, and this will shortly be expanded to include annual recalls.
We have compiled a separate document which gives advice on how to get the most from your Practice, and also details the different health professionals that we have available to help you. We hope that you find the information informative and useful.

With best wishes,

All of the Team at Hadwen Health