"The Final Straw"

I've been at this practice for the past 3 years and I have now decided to register with a surgery further away with much better reviews, and I encourage others to do the same, as it obviously cannot handle the number of patients it has.

I’ve consistently been let down by this service. I blamed it at first on the pandemic but it's becoming increasingly inexcusable for this surgery to fail its patients. This was the final straw.

Multiple times the surgery has dropped the ball on administrative tasks needed to allow me to access my medication and missed requests for regular blood tests. With unbelievable phone wait times and so few available appointments, I have wasted so many hours trying to get access to care.

Recently the surgery missed the yearly review of my prescription, something which I didn’t even know happened before because it had always been done on time (it was missed last year as well). I called and was told that it would get done that morning. I called in the afternoon (knowing I couldn't trust that from experience) to be told that no task had even been made for the review to be done, no record of my request at all. I was assured it would be done as soon as possible and they wouldn't leave me without meds. Though no apology. Never an apology for these mistakes.

Called back the afternoon of the following day to be told that it hadn't been done, the doctor was out yesterday (why wasn't I told that?) and given no clear indication of when I could expect my medication.

Ordering my repeat prescription has become a source of distress every month, where it used to be completely worry free.

Because of what I take, I have a very small window to get a prescription and I am now here panicked on a Friday afternoon not knowing if I will be able to get what I need, facing a weekend of anxiety and potentially horrible withdrawal symptoms at the start of the week.

This surgery is clearly out of its depths. I have struggled through health issues alone because I cannot face the stress of dealing with this shambolic surgery. I am lucky to have recovered greatly from mental health issues but I don’t know if I would have gotten the medical help I needed if this had been my surgery when I was at my lowest point. The incompetence is a serious barrier to care and truly dangerous.

There can’t be any further excuses, other surgeries do not have the terrible reviews this surgery does.