On Friday Mims Davies and I met members of the Modality Sussex team.
This was to follow up on concerns raised by constituents who are patients at Crawley Down Health Centre about accessing appointments.
In the meeting Mims and I set out very frankly the frustration and worry expressed by a number of our constituents about the level of service provided at the Health Centre as well as the other practices that form Modality Sussex.
I was clear that improvements need to be made at the Health Centre as well as Modality as a whole needing to better communicate with patients.
This was not my first meeting with them on the issue and Modality are working hard to improve and are linked in with the Sussex NHS Integrated Care Board.
One point on which we are, I hope, all agreed is that whatever the frustrations, receptionists and the rest of the team at the Health Centre are trying their very best to help patients: verbal abuse of frontline staff is never acceptable.
I will continue to work with Mims, Modality and the Sussex ICB to ensure patients start to see improvements. Mims and I are meeting the Sussex ICB on Friday where I will be asking wider questions about GP access across the Horsham constituency.
In the meantime if anyone has any concerns about their GP practice then please do email me on jeremy.quin.mp@parliament.uk
Please see below a statement from the Sussex ICB on Modality:
"We were really pleased to meet with Jeremy Quin and Mims Davies this morning to talk about the concerns being raised by Modality patients, the steps being taken to improve the situation, and the further action that is being planned. We are taking all of the feedback extremely seriously and have taken time to read all that has been shared with us collectively and ensure we are clear on the areas that patients are concerned about. We discussed with our MPs the actions that are already being taken and additional plans, both short and longer term, and this will be shared with patients by the end of the month with a range of opportunities for local people to meet with us, talk through the plans, and help to shape further solutions."
Photo Credit: Jeremy Quin and Mims Davies, MP for Mid Sussex.