HWR response to misleading Rutland Times headline

Today, an article in the Rutland Times misrepresents Healthwatch Rutland’s comments at a recent Rutland Health and Wellbeing Board meeting. Under the headline “surgery ‘delayed’ prescriptions ordered offline” the article misquotes the Healthwatch Rutland representative on the Board, Dr. Janet Underwood, as saying “this summer one GP practice had been making people wait longer for prescriptions if they ordered them in person rather than online.” 

However, at no point did Dr Underwood suggest that people who do not use online ordering will wait longer to have prescriptions processed. Our concern is that this misrepresentation will create unnecessary alarm and erode trust in local primary care services.

The article accurately reflects the discussion at the board that:

• Dr. Underwood acknowledged that digital services can be easier for many but emphasized the need to not disadvantage those unable to access them.
• Over the summer people at a Rutland Practice have had to queue to hand over paper prescriptions. Dr. Underwood commented that we have spoken to the practice concerned and know they had taken these measures for a short period to try to encourage people to move to digital.
• Both Dr. Underwood and the local NHS representative recognised that the move to digital services is a national push, but face-to-face and telephone options must remain available and be safeguarded.

The publisher Iliffe Media was contacted yesterday and was urged to make a correction across all its outlets. Without hesitation they corrected the misleading article on LincsOnline and in this week’s Rutland and Stamford Mercury but were too late to correct the article in the Rutland Times which had already gone to press. We will be looking for them to print a correction in next week’s edition.