"Awful and incompetent"

Yet again, I have had a complete nightmare getting an appointment with this surgery. Every interaction with them turns into a drama.

I made a request on Anima for an appointment, and I got a reply to my request via the Anima system. It said an appointment for a telephone consultation had been made for me on Monday 3rd March. I took the morning off work to await the phone call, but by 11am, and no phone call forthcoming, I thought I would double check the date of my appointment. The reply on Anima had vanished, so I checked on my NHS app. It said I had a consultation booked on Wednesday 5th. I am absolutely certain that the reply to my request on Anima said the 3rd. However, since the reply to my request has been taken down, I cannot check if I misread the response. However, given that I think it is very unlikely I misread Monday instead of Wednesday, and given my previous poor experience of this practice, I consider it very likely a mistake with the Anima system or the surgery itself. If it had been an isolated incident, I would have accepted the error as my own, but it isn't.

I called the surgery to double check, and the receptionist seemed not to understand the problem. It transpired that not only had an appointment been booked on the 5th (the one I was expecting on the 3rd), but an additional appointment had been made on Monday 10th, which I had not requested.

The Anima system is not fit for purpose.

I have now had to rearrange my appointment for a time when I am not at work in 2 weeks time, as I cannot in good conscience take another whole morning off work just on the off-chance that a GP might ring me. The GPs' time is precious, but so is mine, and I cannot afford to take two mornings off work just to get an appointment. It is not the first time I have had to do this because the admin messed up my appointment date.

It should be quite simple -- when someone needs a GP appointment, they call, an appointment is made at a specific date and time so that the patient can arrange their schedule around it, and they turn up at the surgery to be seen by the GP face to face. This system of logging into Anima, only to be given a very wide window for a telephone appointment is ridiculous. I work in a shared office and I cannot have my mobile phone with me at work, and I do not wish to discuss my medical issues within earshot of everyone at my desk.

This surgery really needs to get its finger out. If I have one more poor experience with this surgery, I shall make a formal complaint to the health service ombudsman and write to the MP about the poor provision of GP services in the Winnersh/Woodley area.