"Average at best"

I have been a life long patient at this practice, since the removal of weekday drop in, it has declined. I spent 47 minutes on hold last Tuesday morning in an attempt to secure an appointment, it concerns me that those using pay as you go mobiles, as many elderly people do, would not be able to wait that long through lack of concentration or due to the cost. I finally received a response and was offered an appointment at 11 o clock, I was eventually seen at 12.05, whilst I accept that this delay happens with doctors, the lack of communication or forward thinking from some of the receptionists is poor, common courtesy would suggest that they warn the patients there is a delay, not least because some are parked outside where there is a half an hour parking limit.

When I eventually got to see the dr it turned out it was her first day at the surgery, something else I was unaware of, she advised me if my issue continued I could be prescribed medication, I’ve been on medication for 2 months which clearly proved she had not read any of my notes and was under pressure She was none the less very pleasant to me, but I didn’t feel like the visit was worthwhile.

When I returned home I was unhappy with the treatment advice I’d received so 3 days later decided to call back to make an appointment with my regular GP….1 hour and 38 minutes later and I can prove this, somebody finally answered the phone, it took all that time to get from number 19 to number one in the queue. This is totally unacceptable to all, I didn’t complain to much as the poor receptionist must have been under a lot of pressure, and she too was very pleasant.This surgery as a whole has declined significantly, there seems to be very little consistency with seeing the same doctor, the wait for a blood test is weeks not days, the right hand doesn’t appear to know what the left hand is doing, and there is definitely no empathy or compassion from the majority of staff. Very poor show from east hill surgery in recent months which is a great shame