"Complete lack of communication and continuity..."

I have been a patient at the surgery for many years and have to say with one or two exceptional moments, it is a bad surgery.

The receptionists are rude and have an attitude when you speak to them. On my last visit the receptionist ignored me for another patient who walked up to reception after me (due to the lack of queuing system it’s a free for all). When she finally spoke to me, it was very dismissive. Another receptionist also gave me the incorrect registration form when I attended to reregister with the practice.

I have had some very questionnable misdiagnoses at this practice such as ear drops for when I had a perforated ear drum and nasal spray when I had glandular fever. It is very difficult to book an appointment unless you are willing to wait 3-4 weeks. And when you do get an appointment, they are always running late.

My sibling was once told that when she needed a call back/emergency appointment that we weren’t allowed to sit in the waiting room and were told “go to M&S for a walk and a coffee. Can’t tell you how long they will be” instead of looking at the on call list and telling us roughly how long the wait would be. We left the practice and less than 5 minutes later we’re told to come back for the prescription because the on call doctor had dealt with it. That in itself is a ridiculous system and needs to be made more transparent.

I also had a problem with opting out of being a dispensing patient, was told I had to collect my prescription at the on site pharmacy (which is highly inconvenient) and I requested to dispense elsewhere. The doctor was extremely reluctant to let me do this and said I would need to discuss it with the pharmacy when I left. So I asked the dispensary as I was leaving how I would do this, they said it wasn’t their fault and directed me to the reception. When I asked at reception, they told me I needed to submit the request in writing to the practice manager for consideration. It’s ludacris, I never selected to be a dispensing patient and now I have to jump through hoops to change that?

This practice has a few positives but my experience with them has mainly been negative. I understand the NHS is stretched and can be very stressful to work in, but the continuity of care for patients and need for clear communication aids with the stress and would alleviate problems like I have discussed.

Overall, definitely a 1/5 rating.