"Terrible “customer service “ contact experience "

I feel I have to write this review for all the old/ vulnerable people who, given my experience at trying to speak to someone at Fell Towers ,would have given up or got extremely stressed. People who call the surgery are needing to speak to someone, they’re not “just passing the time”.

I had tried for six days to contact the dedicated Prescription Line - no answers , no voice messaging , just frustration , ( fortunately I wasn’t needing life saving medication straight away ).

Eventually yesterday, I rang the main Reception Line , and got straight through to the appointment waiting line ( 2nd in line - great). I was on hold’ “ the receptionist knows you are waiting “ for 25 minutes. Someone then answered the line , said “I ll put you through “ without speaking to me and then the line went dead .

My husband had rung the line while I was on hold - he was second in line !!!

Extremely agitated I called the Reception again to be told I was now 3rd in line…

I also needed to make an appointment. Fortunately for me ,my husband was able to take me in the car in person to Fell Towers .

The Receptionist said yes there was a problem with the Prescription Line ( get it sorted then) and seemed very embarrassed re me having to come in to speak to someone in person .

To be fair , she sorted the repeat prescription straight away and arranged a doctors appointment for later that afternoon. However there wasn’t a single person in the waiting room …

When I attended the appointment later that afternoon , the doctor I saw was excellent . Gave me lots of information, arranged for me to attend hospital for x rays and went through potential follow up and options that would be available. The Doctors appointment was first class.

My main issue is , if you can’t get to speak to even a Receptionist, what chance have you got of getting your problem sorted / reviewed? My concern after experiencing this circus is that really ill people will not get the service and medication/ consultation they need - at that moment!!!!!!

It would be wiser to transfer to a practice that had an efficient contact service.

My husband and I are not ( at this moment) needing appointments/ medication for ongoing conditions and are both mobile .However if we did this would create so much stress for us , not being able to speak to someone in the first instance.

I see from reviews that this has been , and still is a major issue at Fell Towers and I hope that this improves instead of being ignored .