James Barbour on Chalmers Street2

8/4/2019 James Barbour on Chalmers Street2

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Lothian NHS Board Office of the Chair and ChiefExecutive

Waverley Gate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

NHS, r '

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lothian

Kezia Dugdale MSP

The Scottish Parliament

Ed\nbmgh

EH991SP

Dear Ms Dugdale

C HA LM ER S S EX UA L H EA LT H C EN TR E

Date

Our Ref

Enquiries to

Direct Line

26 August 2011

15797

Complaints Team

0131 5363370

Thank you for your letter of 5 July 2011, received in my office on 8 July 2011 on behalf of

your constituents.

I was sorry to learn of your constituents' concerns and I passed your letter to our Joint

Director of Health and Social Care, Peter Gabbitas and asked him to investigate this

matter and provide me with a detailed report. My response is based on the information

provided.

Mr Gabbitas advises that there are multiple reception areas due to the size and layout of

the building. There is a main reception desk where patients are either registered (if there

for the first time) or acknowledged as having arrived. I am advised by Mr Gabbitas that inorder to accommodate the numbers of patients attending for the walk-in clinics (08.30-

10.00am Mon-Fri) and to maximise efficiency it is necessary to limit the time a patient has

to wait in this space as there are ongoing booked appointment clinics running in parallel to

the walk-in clinics.

Mr Gabbitas advises there is a separate reception area downstairs where the main clinics

are situated and an additional reception desk for the specialist area on the floor above. I

am informed by Mr Gabbitas that the patient is registered as attending at one of these

receptions so the clinician knows where in the system the patient is and that they are now

in the waiting room ready to be seen.

Mr Gabbitas tells me that initially when the building first opened, due to a number of IT

related incidents and also staff getting familiar with this building, some queuing did occur

in both areas. However, Mr Gabbitas assures me this rarely happens now as the service

has worked hard to improve patient access and the patient journey process.

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L othia n N H S B oar d is t h e com m on nam e o f L o t h i an H ea l t h B oa rd
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/


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Mr Gabbitas advises that the National Sexual Health (NASH) Patient database wasintroduced to ensure patient confidentiality and has a number of safe guards e.g. patient

information will not be shared with any other health service provider unless authorised by

the patient themselves and contact with patients is restricted to the methods stated by thepatient.

Mr Gabbitas confirms there have been some IT problems since the service opened both

with the Sunray computers and the NASH system but Chalmers and eHealth staff have

Norked hard to resolve these and in the past few weeks these have diminished~. - ~

Mr Gabbitas advises that the reception staff working in the Chalmers Sexual Health Centreare not all from the previous Family Planning Service and are from the two previous

separate services: Genitourinary Medicine (GUM) and Family Planning. I am informed by

Mr Gabbitas that this includes medical, nursing, reception and administration staff and all

staff continue to receive complementary training to ensure an integrated knowledge of the

new service. Mr Gabbitas advises that a lot of preparation and staff effort went into

planning for the integration. Mr Gabbitas assures me that staff are continuing to work on

improving the service and the patient experience, bearing in mind the inevitable period of

adjustment to be made following any move to a new building.

Mr Gabbitas informs me that the telephone system and the high number of calls have

been an ongoing issue for both the individual services as well as the new integrated one. Iam advised by Mr Gabbitas that staff vacancies have severely impacted on the ability to

answer calls. Mr Gabbitas confirmed that they are actively recruiting more reception staff.

Until vacant posts are filled the service is utilising other non-clinical staff and at times

clinical staff and Bank staff to answer calls during the busy spells as this is viewed as a

priority by the service.

Mr Gabbitas confirms that the Contact Centre telephone system does give additional

flexibility which was not been available previously e.g. multiple choice so that calls are not

going through just one person and messages have also been set up to inform callers ofopening hours and location information to divert this type of enquiry and free up time for

those who need to speak to someone. Furthermore I am advised that the system allowsmonitoring of telephone activity and this will inform the use of staffing resources tohopefully allow for more than one member of staff to be available to answer incoming calls

at peak times of activity.

This is a new service and the staff have worked very hard to address teething problems of

moving into not just a new facility but as a new integrated service. Mr Gabbitas advises

that staff have been receptive to comments from users of the service and continue to worktowards improving it for all users. Mr Gabbitas would like to point out that there have also

been some positive comments especially about the building and the modern equipment

and layout.

In summary a great deal of planning went into the development of the new building for the

Lothian Sexual and Reproductive Health Service and for the integration of GUM and


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Family Planning Services. The staff have worked hard to get the service open on

schedule and they have faced some challenges in relation to the building and some of the

technical systems.

I hope you find this information helpful and that you have been successful in arranging a

visit to the centre. Please let me know if I can be of any further help and I do hope that

your concerns are addressed in this response.

JA ARBOUR

Chief Executive

Yours sinc rely


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James Barbour on Chalmers Street2