"Frustration When One Least Needs It"

Being a patient at Redcliffe - once run as a tight ship - is now all too often a frustrating experience. When one finally sees a GP/ locum, the care is fair to good (coming prepared to steer the GP helps in the short appointment time allotted ) but any process that involves the practice's admin side is a minefield. Communication is often haphazard, poor to non-existent; letters have gone missing; results may not be not chased up; a recent external referral , in my case, has been a protracted farce. Occasionally brusque staff often fail to take ownership of the case, resulting in much time being devoted to going over the whole individual saga with another admin person each time. Groundhog Day springs to mind. GP appointment in-clinic waiting times can be a lottery. On a recent visit, I was seen one hour later than my appointment time, without so much as a perfunctory 'sorry' from the GP concerned. Repeat prescriptions and routine appointments such as vaccinations are efficiently handled but overall, after decades as a largely satisfied patient, my patience has run out: post-pandemic, I'll likely move to another practice.