A DOCTOR’S surgery has gained 200 patients, cut the number of people skipping GP appointments, and reduced needless visits to accident and emergency units – and it's all down to the personal touch.

Walmersley Road Medical Practice has introduced a range of new initiatives, such as replacing patient letters with phone calls, counselling patients who repeatedly attend accident and emergency (A&E) departments, and ensuring multi-lingual staff are on hand to speak to patients.

The changes were the brainchild of Dr Afzal Hussain whose ethos is to ensure 'patient education is at the top of the agenda'.

Dr Hussain said: “Because some of my patients were struggling to understand the appointments system, they were missing GP and hospital appointments.

“Sometimes they would simply go to A&E with coughs and colds and get their families checked out whilst they were there.

“They would also live with pain until it became so acute that they had to go to A&E.”

Patients who attend A&E more than twice in one calendar month are now invited in for a chat to find out about other options available to them, other than A&E.

With Fairfield Hospital just a couple of miles away, Dr Hussain believes some patients use A&E when they cannot get an instant GP appointment.

Dr Kiran Patel, chairman of NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “There is a wide range of healthcare options available for Bury residents and by signposting patients to the most appropriate option, Walmersley Road is ensuring the best healthcare for patients and is reducing NHS costs."

The new approach has helped the practice achieve a rating of “good” by the Care Quality Commission.