"First Class—R.B."

At the height of the Covid -19 epidemic I needed medical advice on a totally unrelated problem. When I phoned reception at Richmond Medical Centre I expected major problems in getting through.

Because of the endless queries receptions must be facing I also expected a courteous but nevertheless brusque response. As the consultation was clearly stated to be only by phone I expected further considerable delay in actually talking to a doctor.

I was hopelessly wrong in all three cases. When I clicked into the system I was ‘fifth in the queue’ and that soon reduced to ‘you are next in the queue’. The receptionist, when I did get through, was endlessly patient in addition to being comfortingly efficient.

I had phoned at 8.10am that morning and was told a return call from a doctor had been booked for 10.30am. The receptionist made it clear the timing of the return call would depend, by necessity, on a number of factors. The lovely lady bid me a cheery goodbye and also wished me good luck..

Surprise, surprise. The return call didn’t come at 10.30am. It came at 10.28am! The whole experience left me overwhelmed with gratitude by the treatment I experienced from the receptionist, the doctor and Richmond Medical Centre in General.

At the most testing medical time in living memory it was absolutely remarkable. Thank you!