"Frustrating experiences"

Despite repeated efforts, the receptionists have refused point blank to let me see a practice nurse to remove dissolvable stitches that keep emerging from a surgical wound. I have been offered only a telephone appointment with a doctor, which clearly could not address the problem. As a result I have had to resort on four separate occasions to a friend with a pair of tweezers and sharp scissors and some home sterilisation.

Having not used the practice since it took over from my excellent but now retired GP, I have also been astonished at how difficult it is to make even a telephone appointment to see a doctor. Most days you simply get told that there are no appointments that can be booked, no matter how far in the future, and that you must try again the following day.

For another recent problem I eventually got a telephone appointment for two weeks later, for a doctor to call me at an unspecified time in a four hour window, with a warning that they would not try twice. The parallels with the worst parcel delivery services are obvious.

That said, the doctor was helpful on the phone and also arranged a prompt in-person appointment with another doctor.

Nevertheless the overall impression is that the practice is being run entirely for the convenience and preferences of staff not patients. Given the office staff attitude, I would not want to rely on it for any urgent or serious problem. I would have to go to A&E or seek private medical help.