Newham NHS

Sent: 25 March 2010 15:40
To: *NPCT - Feedback
Subject: Complaint/Enquiry-Glen Road Medical Centre

Dear Sir or Madam,

I live in Caraway Close, E13 8PN.
I am new to this area and have been trying to register with a female doctor. I found 'Glen Road Medical Centre' as the nearest GP, which has female doctors. I went there to register this morning but the receptionist named Sue Jackson refused me. She said I don't live in their catchment area so I have to go somewhere else. I tried to explain that 'Glen Road Medical Centre' appeared as the fourth nearest GP in my area and the distance between my house is only 0.4mile. The receptionist, Sue Jackson insisted that half a mile is not catchment area, so she can't help me.

I phoned Find a Doctor Service on 020 8586 6298, and funnily enough the lady suggested me 'Glen Road Medical Centre'. I told the lady that I was refused to register with them because the receptionist thinks that I don't live in their catchment area. The lady told me I should write a demand letter to the GP, but I am already put off by the way the receptionist treated me. I no longer have intention to register with 'Glen Road Medical Centre', but to complain about the receptionist.

She seemed really confident, but the NHS website also says I don't have to choose the nearest GP and shows all the GPs within 5miles..
I am a little confused so I would be very grateful if you can clarify what the catchment area means. And I would like to know whether the receptionist at 'Glen Road Medical Centre' was right to refuse me.

Regards,
Bommsoon Lee
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From: Bryson Richard - Communications Manager On Behalf Of *NPCT - Communications
Sent: 25 March 2010 16:00
To: Hetherington Geoff - Consumer Relations Manager
Subject: FW: Lee (GMP) complaint


Hi Geoff,

Are you the correct person to pass on with this complaint/enquiry

Kind regards,

Richard Bryson
Communications Manager
NHS Newham
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date26 March 2010 17:41
subjectRE: Complaint about GP registration

Dear Ms Lee,

Your e-mail to the PCT's communications address has been passed to me.

I a sorry to read of the difficulty you had in trying to register with the Practice of your choice on the grounds of living outside its catchment area. Practices are entitled to have catchment areas, notified to the Primary Care Trust, and these can be related to local geography or road layout, and do not have to be a regular circle around the Practice. Thus, it is possible to live close to a Practice but still find that the address is outside the catchment area boundary, whilst in a different direction an address farther away is still within the boundary.

The point-to-point distance software used by the PCT's Find-a-Doc Service to calculate the nearest GP to enquirers cannot take account of the strange shapes Practices' catchment areas make on a map, although there is nevertheless a broad correlation between distance away and falling within the catchment area.

Having been affected by a decision or action of an NHS body (by being prevented from registering), you are entitled to make a complaint about it, although it is likely that the response will be that the address you live at is outside the Practice boundary and that will be justification enough. The Practice might choose to explain why the boundary is where it is, which is likely to be because of the number of patients registered with the Practice, but that would be for the Practice to decide on if you did make a complaint. NHS Newham's Medical Director has already seen your e-mail and has determined that, if you confirmed that you wanted to complain, it would be more appropriate for the Practice to deal with it and you should send your complaint to the Practice.

However, I have been in touch with the Practice Manager, Anita Vallamkonda, and whilst she has confirmed that your address is outside the catchment area, she has agreed to register you if you still want to go there. If you are able to go on Monday, she will be expecting you. Please ask for her by name and take with you the documentation Practices require to register patients - proof of identity and proof of address.

I hope this action adequately addresses your needs.

Yours sincerely,
Geoff Hetherington.
Mr J G Hetherington,
Consumer Relations Manager (Complaints & Clinical Records),
NHS Newham

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date27 March 2010 17:39

Dear Mr Hetherington,

Thank you very much for your email.

Given your explanation, I understand that the receptionist at Glen Road Medical Centre was not wrong. I therefore will not make a formal complaint to the Practice. Rather, I now feel that I was misled by the lady at the Find a Doctor Service saying that my address is within the Practice's catchment area and also by the NHS website giving so very little information about the catchment area, but only shows nearest GPs' information, as if they are all possible practices I can choose from.

I have to say, I have not been in the UK for all my life and it may be elementary knowledge you do teach kids, still people are reluctant to remember. As a matter of fact, I had also spoken to some other people including a receptionist and a nurse at the Newham University Hospital Walk in Centre on that day about my difficulty, to determine my position before I wrote to the PCT. And it seems to me that the meaning of catchment area and what really the NHS's Find a Doctor Service system does are not only hardly known to the general public, but also to the people working in NHS as they suggested that I should look out for the same post code as my address, which again was not exactly helpful. Here, I am not trying to generalise everyone working in NHS, yet want to explain what happened to me on the same day in detail to you.

I do really appreciate all your effort to help my case and the kind offer from the Practice Manager to make an exception for me, but I do not wish to accept something is not fair.

What I wish to see is that this correspondence would prompt improvement on the system in such a way of showing possible practices by their catchment areas and to make the information known to the public clearly, as this seemingly a mere individual experience could be everyone else's.

Kind regards,
Bommsoon Lee