STAMMA recommends changes in GP appointment booking systems
According to surveys conducted between January and June 2023, 68% of all respondents reported they can only book a GP appointment using the phone. 41% of people who stammer reported they find it ‘very difficult’ using the phone to book an appointment. This compares with 23% of people who don’t stammer.
Survey respondents who stammer reported that they had been hung up on, misunderstood, rushed, laughed at, or simply not given enough time to explain their needs. 54% said they experienced mental distress around using the phone to book appointments.
A female respondent in her fifties admitted she was unsupported throughout her menopause, as “I find it really hard to say my name, so describing a day to day of my body is sometimes impossible on the phone”.
STAMMA recommends that GP surgeries review their appointment booking systems and provide staff training around stammering. They advocate for flexible appointment booking channels, training of receptionists to engage with disfluent callers, and implementation of opt-in patient record flags for people who stammer.
The charity sent out the results of their survey and attached recommendations to their members on Thursday afternoon. They received a large number of additional stories and responses in agreement from members who have experienced similar difficulties at their GP.
In STAMMA’s 2023 poll of a representative sample of over 6,000 UK adults, 1.5% said they stammer. That is an average of 75 registered adult patients who stammer for each GP surgery.
STAMMA’s Director of Services Kirsten Howells says:
It’s important that access to health care is equitable and that systems work for people who stammer as well as for those don’t. We hope to make Practice Managers understand the detrimental effect that current booking systems can have on people who stammer, how these barriers can actively limit access to health care, and how simple changes can make all the difference.
Every time I call up my GP surgery to book an appointment, the amount of times I have been told to 'hurry up', speak more clearly etc., and they have hung up the phone on many occasion, it's devastating we still aren't accepted.
Stamma have produced a short guide with practical tips and support for GP Practice Managers, receptionists and other staff, which outlines the steps which can be taken, downloadable here.
