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"Very poor practice "

About: Angel Lane Surgery

The appointment system at this surgery is utterly broken in my experience. I phoned in the afternoon to be told there are no pre-bookable GP appointments and was told to send a text message and they would get back to me. I have zero faith in this method as I have requested bookings online before and no-one has got back to me. The only other alternative is to try to get a same day appointment by phoning at 8am. This has proved virtually impossible; I have phoned first thing, been stuck in a queue for 30 mins, only to be told there are no appointments. In the past I have had to go to A&E for non-urgent matters just because I couldn’t book an GP appointment in advance. It’s frightening being registered with a practice where care is almost impossible to come by. How is someone who is seriously ill or elderly supposed to navigate all the obstacles/ barriers this practice puts in the way of getting something as basic as a GP appointment. How many cancers are being missed by this practice? The one time I did manage to get some kind of appointment I was only allowed to see a nurse not a GP. When I arrived at about 9 am there was only one other patient in the waiting room; it was the middle of winter and you wondered where all the sick people were; probably trying in vain to get an appointment. The practice succeeds in distancing itself as far as possible from the care needs of the patients on its books. Avoid if you have any alternative.

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Responses

Response from Angel Lane Surgery 13 months ago
Angel Lane Surgery
Submitted on 23/04/2024 at 14:50
Published on nhs.uk at 14:50


I am the Practice Manager at Angel Lane Surgery and I am sorry you have had these unsatisfactory experiences. We are of course under extreme pressure like the rest of the NHS currently and have great demand for appointments. The surgery does signpost patients to the most appropriate care provider so that all patients get the care required whether that be a clinician at the surgery or a service outside of the surgery. At times when we are at a capacity that is within safe working parameters for the clinicians it may be that this appropriate route would be A&E. By asking the patient to send in an electronic message via our website this enables this signposting process to be done more efficiently and frees up the phone line for urgent cases or patients who cannot access online services. I of course cannot comment on your particular experiences as I do not have the details but if you would like to get in touch with me at the surgery, I would be very happy to look into this in more detail for you.

Alison Southgate

Practice Manager

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