"Once again Pall Mall reception excel at being…"

My elderly father called the surgery to request an appointment, but after queuing on the phone for 30 mins he was told to fill in a on line form. The “care navigator” (what a joke of a job title) flatly refused to help and insisted on him filling in the new form, no consideration of the fact the telephone system doesn’t not tell patients waiting to using the apparent new system. No consideration of whether older more vulnerable people have internet access and can see sufficiently to deal with ridiculous forms. Your website says ‘please try to use eConsult’ it doesn’t say it’s mandatory as the receptionist insisted on telling him. I am so angry that this woman refused to help him, why should elderly people have to fill in complicated intrusive form asking irrelevant questions about gambling, most people aren’t addicts with depression or stress just ordinary people needing to see a doctor! A few weeks ago one of your “receptionists” (let’s face it that is all they are they don’t ‘care’ and can’t ‘navigate’) tried to tell my mother she needs to buy a blood pressure monitor so she can take her own readings for you rather than inconvenience you by visiting a nurse. The NHS leadership has created this problem for themselves and have been lapping up the “because of covid” mentally to deliver worse services so staff can work from home and have less contact with the inconvenient patients. I resent paying yet more tax to pour into the NHS abyss for even worse service. I truly hope the Government grows a pair and rips the NHS apart and rebuilds a service suitable for the 21st Century. I’ll be writing to my MP as well demanding she look at your performance and press the Health Secretary to get a grip of what’s going on.