Appointments booking report now available

The report includes the following key findings:

• 52% of people would prefer to book appointments online either with an app or via a website.
• Most people currently book via telephone.
• The biggest issues respondents had were with waiting times and availability of appointments.

Five recommendations were made to GP practices, dental surgeries and hospital departments to make the process of booking appointments easier for those that need them.

Adam Webb, Communications and Information officer at Healthwatch Trafford said:

Most people are used to using the telephone to book appointments, particularly with their GP. However we have found that this isn’t ideal for people in many cases, and often is a barrier to some getting the treatment they need. We have also seen a shift to more people wanting to manage and book their appointments online, so there needs to be more provision for that to be available, or where it already is, more help provided to get patients registered and used to using those systems.

Another overriding issue identified by a large proportion of respondents to the snapshot survey was with the general availability of appointments. There were simply too few available, with waiting times being a major problem. This may well be the most difficult barrier to overcome.

You can find the report in our reports section