There are 5 receptionists and the day begins when we take back the phones from the Out of Hours Service at 8.00 am. All calls to the practice are answered in reception and we have 3 phones that ring constantly. We deal with a variety of calls including making appointments, taking visit requests, giving out blood test results, handling queries on prescriptions and routing hospital and referral enquiries to the secretaries. Between 8.30 am and 9.30 am is our busiest period and we hope you understand if the phone is not answered quickly.
When things have calmed down a bit one of us will start to work on the prescription desk printing the forms for the doctors to sign. On average we process prescriptions for around 75 patients per day. These are only accepted by written request and not over the telephone. When the signed forms are returned we sort them ready for collection by Tarporley, Tarvin and Kelsall chemists, attaching any notes from the doctor requesting blood tests, blood pressure checks etc.
Meanwhile the receptionist on the front desk is checking in patients arriving for appointments, booking new appointments and dealing with any queries.
The visit requests are passed to the duty doctor around 10.30 am and we ask that they are made by 10.00 am so that we can allocate them appropriately. It is the receptionists responsibility to ensure that all requests are logged and assigned to a doctor.
Between morning and afternoon surgeries we are still busy answering the telephones. We ask patients to ring for blood test results between the hours of 12 noon and 3.00 pm if possible, as this is a slightly quieter time. If you have a blood test please ring for the results 1 week later. The doctors and nurses always put a message on the screen for us to give to you. During this time we may also be registering new patients on the computer, filing letters on patient notes, stocking consultation rooms or contacting patients to ask them to make appointments for blood tests or to see a doctor or nurse.
Afternoon surgery starts at 3.30 pm for the doctors and we are still answering the telephones. During the afternoons we continue filing letters on patient records and with 6,500 patients this is another constant task! We also prepare for clinics at the cottage hospital by printing off medical history and pulling patient notes ready for the doctor to take to clinic.
At 6.30 pm the phones are put over to the Out of Hours Service and the surgery is closed.
