HMG - Flu jabs

[Ubique]

Might be posting something of no interest to others but ..............

My Surgery is Kings St / Bobbkestock Surgerys., about 10 days ago I called at Kings St Surgery to book a Flu Jab for Mrs U and me ........advised that they hadn't decided how it was going to be carried out ..........that should have warned me that " Failing to plan is planning to fail " .

Today I called into Kings St and asked when I can book an appointment . The Receptionist was at all times very professional and nice , started off by saying that she could fit us in at Bobblestock Surgery , that's fine , we can get there by bus but we will have a two hour wait for our bus home - that two hours will be spent in the Three Elms Pub trying to keep within Govt guidelines , so thank you but no . Kings St Surgery are no doing any flu jabs so what about Greyfriars Surgery at 16.45 , sorry no transport home so it's a 5 mile walk . Right Ho ! What about South Wye Medicial Centre at Asda , can you walk that far ! Yes we will take the appointments , OK we have to walk from and to the bus stop at the Old Market but it's a date .

In a few weeks time the medicial profession will be moaning that there a a high number of over 65 who haven't had their flu jab - thereby increasing the Dr and hospital work load - 

Food for thought ...........perhaps we should have enquired at the Supermarkets ! 

[Denise Lloyd]

Ubique I am pleased to report that Kingstone Surgery are running a Saturday Clinic for flu jabs.

Ewyas Harold and Peterchurch Surgery (2 separate premises but same practice) are also running a Saturday clinic

Take note Hereford city the service being offered outside the city limits!

[Aylestone Voice]

Free NHS Flu Jabs at Tesco Bewell Street - so I'm told

(Easy at my surgery though!!)

[bobby47]

All matters relating to HMG are getting worse rather than better. As for the Flu Jabs, months ago, one of the numerous Managers, and there's lots of them, was tasked to ensure the vaccines were ordered and the Flu Jabs were given to the patients. This hasn't happened yet and there's no sign it ever will happen any time soon.

Sadly, the Manager didn't bother and still, despite pleas for things to be sorted out, the vaccines haven't been acquired and no Flu Jab programme has been put in place.

With reference to the recent Hereford Times piece that highlighted the problems at HMG, particularly those relating to callers being unable to access the HMG call centre because nobody answered the phone, HMG recently contacted the HT Reporter inviting them to visit the Surgery where the call takers are sat.

T'other day the Reporter attended Moorfields after accepting the invitation to observe the call takers at work. He/she found that the call taking centre was up and running, in good shape and very prompt in their dealings with their patients. I'm pretty sure the Reporter is about to produce a piece in the HT praising the new found efficiency of the Call Centre. And it did go well. All the calls were promptly answered by the staff. The problem was, and the Reporter wasn't to know this, the staff taking the calls and sat in the seats were Management and not Call Takers. Interestingly, the very next day HMG were back to square one with only two call takers managing the workload of several others who were not there. I don't suppose this'll fool the public for long.

Finally, and it really does make you wonder why these surgeries stupidly merged so early on rather than wait until their new building was ready for use, the building work to the new HMG hive begins on the 19th, January, 2019 and it's expected that the work will be completed sometime in the middle of 2020.

In the meantime, chaos reigns. The staff are leaving in numbers, moral is rock bottom and with only one or two exceptions, every single member of the HMG front line staff believes it's a massive c.o.ck up! And to end on a conciliatory note and display some sympathy to those who stupidly triggered this mad merger. They now wish they hadn't done it.

Now, because they can't revisit their original mistake and put things right and are now tied and bound to the madness they've created, they are now like many failing organisations who are forced to defend a mess. They become obsessed with Reputation Management.

Yes indeed'y. Reputation Management. Managers spending their time managing the corporate message, defending what is a pile of boll.oc.ks and then telling all that'll listen that it's all fine and dandyho, when anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that it's not.

Course, well before the roof is tightly affixed to this medical brick monument to stupidity, some fool will emerge, wonder where all the money has gone, quite rightly they'll pull the plug, start again and after toting up the tens of thousands of wasted public money, they'll leave the original idiots of the merger still in charge, sack the cleaner and the tea lady and tell us all, 'Lessons Have Been Learned'.

[Ubique]

Thanks Bobby for the update.............the term " Lions lead by  donkeys " comes to mind ! 

[Ubique]

On 8 October 2018 at 18:44, Aylestone Voice said:

Free NHS Flu Jabs at Tesco Bewell Street - so I'm told

(Easy at my surgery though!!)

Yes they are free for " at risk " groups. ......we fit into one of the 11 groups ........over 65 yrs. Called there today and had the jab within 10 minutes. Super Service .

So I thought that I had better cancel our appointments at the Wye Valley Surgery ( ASDA ) it will save us a walk from The old Market to Asda and return ...............I phoned the HMG , took 8 minutes to,answer by a human . Appointment cancelled  , was waiting for the Caller a Handler to ask me if I wanted to make another appointment, the question was never asked - that's poor Service.

One of the reasons that a number of people do not turn up for appointments is that one gets fed up with waiting for the Call Centre to answer.

Bobby is so right when he says that the building should have been built first ,then pull all the Pracitces together - to late now , looking forward to see the annual cost of this big mistake .