"Disappointing Service"

Acting on behalf of my father I had the need to contact the surgery. I’ve heard lots of comments about how bad the practice is… I called with an open mind, here’s my experience!

My issue is with the doctors and NOT the receptionist staff or nurses who are in fact very caring, helpful and understanding. It appears, from my contact with them, that they are only following the instructions of the GP’s who seem to have a dismissive, can’t be bothered, take the money and tick a box attitude!

After being refused a call with the GP I was told to call 999 by the receptionist who’d spoken to the GP. with my concerns. At the time this seemed a bit over the top especially as the NHS are already stretched to the limit. My father (76) then became more stressed with his situation, he just wanted some reassurance from his doctor and not a receptionist. We opted to call 111, they insisted we call back the GP as the GP has a legal duty of care to call us back. We finally had a call back from the GP who was VERY abrupt, talked over us and was very rude in their manner of speech! If I’d of spoken to them in the same manner I’m sure I would of been contravening some kind of rules protecting them from abuse.

Bearing in mind my father has serious health issues this call back lasted less the 1 minute 30 seconds all of which time I was talked over and at by the GP. This is NOT the way to speak to patients!

Someone needs to get this practice in order. Something that the PPG would like to discuss at their next meeting.

In the end we did call 999 and had a fabulous response from the paramedics