"Round about nightmare. "

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dealing with St Richard Road Surgery, and I must say, it has been quite possibly the most useless medical service I've ever encountered. My partner has been suffering from inflamed and swollen ankles for several days and, after a struggle, managed to secure an appointment by phoning St Richard's Surgery at the crack of dawn. However, this appointment was given without any confirmation of time. The time then given via text was no good for him.

In the meantime, we were advised to visit a walk-in clinic, where he ended up waiting a staggering 5.5 hours just to be seen. After all that time, he was told he needed to arrange a blood test with his local GP. The online system supposedly makes this easy at St Richard’s, but don’t be fooled. Even with an appointment, he was turned away by one of the rather unhelpful receptionists when he arrived for his blood test. He was informed that his bloods couldn’t be taken without first seeing a doctor, despite having an appointment scheduled for the next day.

The whole process felt unnecessarily convoluted and inefficient. It seems that no adjustments can be made to appointments, not even by a minute. When he asked for alternatives, he was left with the suggestion to call 999 or seek help elsewhere, i.e. A&E, which is hardly reassuring.