Press release -
STAMMA recommends changes in GP appointment booking systems
STAMMA recommends changes in GP appointment booking systems nationwide after a survey showed that phone-only systems and lack of staff training cause people who stammer to face physical and mental distress, delayed appointments, and late diagnoses.
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.
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Our Purpose
We exist to create a world that makes space for stammering. Where it's embraced as just a difference. Where no-one judges your stammer or the way you choose to deal with it. We’ll get there by bringing people together, whether they stammer or not, to propel a movement for change.
We will stand up for and embolden those who stammer, provide support and information, and challenge discrimination wherever we find it. We’ll fight for NHS speech and language therapy services for those want it. No matter how you talk, we're here for you.
Join us and help the public understand that stammering is not a sign of being drunk, dishonest, nervous or weak. It’s simply how some of us talk.
