"Very hit and miss "

I have had far more bad experiences with this practice than good both for myself and my elderly dad in the last couple of years. I work so am unable to sit on the phone in the morning hoping to get an appt. So I registered for online appt booking some time ago. Used it successfully once, tried again recently to be told I am not registered with it. A system that kicks you off for not visiting the doctor enough! Had to re-register then tried to use today only to find that the "available slots" are non-existent for about 2.5 months. I called the surgery thinking the system must have an error to be told very curtly that there are no appts and they are waiting for the rotas that cover from the end of March to release those. So I would have to wait until then or I could call at 8.15am...rather missing the point that I chose online booking because I cannot do that morning scramble nonsense which successive governments talk about changing but don't. So basically I have no access to my gp in anything like a reasonable timescale (if at all). I went on the website to find you could message and they (should) come back to you but the wait is 2 days. I have done this as it seems no other choice. The website states for a routine appt you can call the surgery during normal working hours - this is not true as they restrict to the early morning rush. It also states you can go into the surgery during opening times and book a routine appt - I have tried this before and can confirm this is also not true unless things have changed very recently. Finally it says you can book online. Clearly this is also not the case. Some serious overhaul of working practices needed here and (some) receptionists need a lot of training in customer service. There is a young man behind reception sometimes and he always seems helpful but it's pot luck with the women there.

Everything seems geared up to stopping people accessing the healthcare that we pay for in our taxes. The system used is designed to make life easier for them and harder for the people paying for it. Years ago in a previous surgery I could call anytime of day to book an appointment - I still might have had a 2 or 3 week wait if it was non-urgent but at least I could get it booked. I fail to see why that would be so difficult a thing for this practice to do.

Time for GP surgeries to be owned by the NHS and GPs employed and accountable instead of what feels like little fiefdoms taking taxpayers money and giving as little as they can in return.