Patient Update: Dealing with Unprecedented Demand

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We provide:

  • Primary care (GP) services to 6,240 patients across Robertsbridge and Battle.
  • Annual reviews for 1,332 patients with long term conditions.
  • Our receptionists answer 230 phone calls a day (1 call every 2 minutes).

We offer

  • On the day appointments for urgent requests, and
  • Booked in advance appointments for routine requests that can wait to be seen.
  • A choice of face to face, telephone, or online consultations.
  • Continuity, or a choice of GP (this can mean a wait if your preferred GP is fully booked or on holiday).

Managing Patient Demand

All GP practices are struggling to cope with the current level of unprecedented patient demand, including ours.

This has still resulted in the GPs working long hours to keep up. Each of our GPs conducts significantly more patient contacts than the 25 a day recommended by the British Medical Association (BMA) in ‘Safe Working in General Practice’ as the maximum number of contacts to work safely and avoid GPs and staff from suffering mental and physical burnout. This ‘day in the life of Dr Sewell’ gives an insight into a typical GP day.

The current workload is not sustainable, and we will be introducing the 25 contacts a day cap with the support of our Patient Participation Group (PPG).

There are a number of other measures that will help reduce the workload on the practice being introduced by Government. These include: –

  • Physiotherapists and social prescribers, and an e-hub for online consultations via the online ‘Engage Consult’, shared across six surgeries in Rural Rother.
  • More use made of the NHS App for online prescriptions and bookings for set clinics e.g. flu vaccines, along with access by patients to their records (from Nov 2023).
  • Pharmacies to be seen as the ‘first stop’ for over-the-counter medicines for minor ailments, and in the future prescriptions for antibiotics and antivirals for 7 conditions, and oral contraception.
  • A ‘minor eye service’ for eye conditions.
  • NHS.UK providing advice to self-care at home plus online tools to monitor long term conditions at home.

How can you help us?

We would encourage all patients to use the other services being provided where these are more appropriate than a GP appointment. This means our GP appointments are kept free for those that need them most.

What happens when appointments have gone for the day?

When our appointments have gone for the day, our receptionists will direct you to another service to help, including NHS 111. The government is providing training to support them in this role. We recognise that this is a change for everyone; we ask for your kindness and understanding towards our reception team who are on the front line delivering this change.

What about waiting times?

The government is asking GPs to see patients for routine requests within 2 weeks. Some surgeries are cutting off appointments at 2 weeks, requiring patients to contact NHS 111 or call back another time to book. We have decided against this, but ask patients to recognise that the wait may be longer than 2 week if there is high demand or GPs are on holiday.

Why can’t you recruit more staff?

The government is giving no direct additional funding to GP surgeries for new staff – they are investing in other services instead. To give this some context, in the last 5 years, there has been an increase of 19% in our NHS income, but an increase of 46% in staff costs. Our ‘core contract’ income just covers our running costs – there is no flexibility to employ extra staff. We also have the additional problem of no space until our new health centre is built.

Find out more

You can find out more about the other services being provided by visiting our website or clicking on these links on our website: –

We will still offer

  • On the day appointments for urgent requests (up to the 25 per GP cap), and
  • Booked in advance appointments for routine requests that can wait to be seen – but please consider whether one of the alternative services may be more appropriate first (and may be accessed more quickly).
  • A choice of face to face, telephone, or online consultations.
  • Continuity, or a choice of GP (this can mean a wait if your preferred GP is fully booked or on holiday).

Help us serve you the best way we can, and keep GP appointments free for those that need them most.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have put together this FAQ for the questions we have received on this important change.