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Disappointing Experience

Story from nhs.uk

"Disappointing Experience"

About: The Springhead Medical Centre

I have been at this surgery for 4 years and both of the GPs and the nurses I have seen have been very helpful and I have no complains.

However, this week my experience has not been very good. I tried to book an appointment online to find the first appointment was 2 weeks away (previously I have never had any issue finding an available appointment online). Instead I contacted the surgery to make an appointment (25 call attempts later), I spoke to a person who advised I didn't need to see a GP but should come into bring a sample, which I did straight away. I called back after 2pm as advised but the results were inconclusive and was told my sample had been sent away to be tested. I called back 2 days later as advised and was then told my results weren't ready as it takes 3-5 working days for results (contradicting what I had been told previously). I now have to wait another 4 days as it is over the weekend, which means it will be 6 days since I provided my sample to find out whether I need antibiotics or not.

I am not happy with this service, leaving a patient waiting when they haven't even been able to see or speak to a doctor is not acceptable. I understand the reason for this procedure as it frees up GPs to see other patients but I can't help feeling very misled and fobbed off.

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Responses

Response from The Springhead Medical Centre 8 years ago
The Springhead Medical Centre

Submitted on 07/08/2017 at 11:43
Published on nhs.uk on 22/02/2018 at 17:07

We are very sorry to hear that you have not had a good experience.

With demand for GP's being so high we do have to have systems in place that ensure they only see patients who's needs can only be met by them. If a patient can have their needs met by other clinical staff we try to arrange that.

Possible urine infection is a good example of this. By bringing in a sample this can be checked on site by a nurse. The result can then be discussed with a GP who will advise treatment.

Without knowing who you are it is difficult to be sure but it sounds like after dipping your urine in house, it had to be sent away for testing at the hospital. Some tests at the hospital take longer than others to complete so until we look for a result it is often not possible to tell if it has been done or not. Unfortunately this is out of our control.

We can only apologise for your inconvenience but it is unlikely that seeing a GP would have changed the outcome. It is likely they would have also insisted on sending off your sample for testing before prescribing to ensure you had an appropriate antibiotic if one was indicated.

We have details on our eConsult website about how to manage common health problems which might have been useful to you - please see our website www.springheadmedical.nhs.uk for more information

If you want to discuss this with a member of our staff please contact us on 335224.

Apologies again.

Practice Manager

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