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Diabolical

Story from nhs.uk

"Diabolical"

About: Maryport Health Services

This is a terrible practice. It is not possible to see a GP. I think they are part-time and working from home. For a practice with around 10 GPs & the population of Maryport it is scandalous. You ring....long wait. Finally through to receptionist who decides whether you are to be granted an audience by telephone with a GP. You jump through several hoops as I think they would rather you see a nurse. The 'appointment' by telephone call involves waiting for your phone to ring for 4 hours, (anytime between 8 a.m. & noon). If you miss it, you have to go through the whole process again; there is no follow up. The website is very outdated, with a lack of care or thought for patients. Click on 'appointments' a sign comes up with 'all advance appointments suspended due to Covid pandemic.' This is March 2023. Self referral forms require you to purchase word or excel. I'm saddened that the inevable consequence of such poor service is that conditions perhaps easily treated initially will worsen, & that vulnerable & elderly people will really struggle to get the care they need.

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Responses

Response from Maryport Health Services 2 years ago
Maryport Health Services

Submitted on 09/06/2023 at 09:11
Published on nhs.uk on 12/06/2023 at 10:25

Dear Patient, thank you for getting in touch. We are sorry to read about your recent experience. We understand that some patients may have difficulty getting appointments and this is why we have invested in expanding our clinical teams, particularly over the last twelve months. Our "on-the-day" team has doubled in this time to help us meet patient demand.

All our Receptionists receive training on where the patient's needs would best be served and sometimes this means they may not get to speak to a GP but often this does mean their medical issue is dealt with sooner. We want to assure you that this signposting and navigating training is delivered by our GPs and Receptionists follow their guidance. We offer a mix of telephone and face-to-face appointments with a wide range of clinicians, including GPs, and in the evenings too, up to 8pm.

We understand that some aspects of our website are outdated and that is why we have been working on delivering a new website which will be able to offer so much more for our patients and improve their experiences with the Surgery. We do have hardcopy self-referral forms available to complete at the Surgery, we put the digital copies on our website to accommodate patients who might not be able to readily or easily come to the Surgery in person for instance those who might work during most of our opening hours.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us to further discuss any aspects of the issues raised.

Thank you

Maryport Health Services

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