On Going IT Issues

Dear patients of Reach (and of Medway Medical Group who have now merged).

We are still having ongoing issues with the IT system following the IT merger which took place over the bank holiday weekend. Despite anticipating some disruption to services the system is not fully operational. NHS Kent & Medway (Integrated Care Board) who are involved in commissioning (contracting out) the IT services are fully aware of the situation and are supporting us.

Consequently, although we can access medical records at present there are ongoing issues with prescription requests, access to letters being sent to the practice and our ability to process these which may result in delays.

We are OPEN, please attend the practice at any of the usual sites or by telephone as we have turned ANIMA (our online consulting tool) OFF. This is to maintain safety and allow us to release time for staff to answer phone calls and clinicians to manage patients. Please do not contact the practice for ROUTINE requests or queries as this will add to waiting times on the telephone and at the front desk. We also are unlikely to be able to provide some information which could lead to frustration for our patients.

You may also be signposted to 111 or Pharmacy First (who can prescribe antibiotics for certain situations – https://www.nhs.uk/services/pharmacy/pharmacy-1st/FN418).

We understand there are concerns raised about the telephone queues but we have increased staff answering the phone calls including the GP Partners answering. The time taken to answer is between 1-4 minutes. A call back function has been available since last year.

We will keep you informed as we receive updates. Please look at our website and also our Facebook page. You may also be contacted by text messages with updates.

If you have ongoing concerns and issues and are not satisfied with the practice’s response, please contact the ICB.

https://www.kentandmedway.icb.nhs.uk/contact-us

Thank you all for supporting the staff and being patient, we are all trying to work in unexceptionally difficult circumstances and are trying to provide safe care for all of our patient groups.