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Inflexible GP service

Posted By Nobody Cares

"Inflexible GP service"

About: Victoria Medical Centre Pms Practice

(as the patient),

Waiting 2 weeks for a telephone appointment is simply not good enough!  Discussed with the doctor a problem I had.  I then wanted to speak about another problem but was told we can only discuss one problem, you will have to make another appointment to discuss a second problem.

This is an absolute joke.  So another phone call, which can only take place at certain times, waiting for ages for someone to actually take the call, then when you finally get through no appointments left for that day.  People do not choose specific times to be ill. When are GP's going to be available for normal face to face appointments to treat patients?

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Responses

Response from Victoria Medical Centre Pms Practice nearly 2 years ago
Victoria Medical Centre Pms Practice

Submitted on 09/08/2022 at 09:20
Published on nhs.uk at 14:58

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review - your feedback is very important to us and has been vital in making changes to our system over the coming months.

The national average waiting time for a routine appointment is 19 days.

It is unfortunate that you were asked to call back for another appointment, I'd like to discuss this with you in further detail, unfortunately you have chosen to remain anonymous so I am unable to contact you, please call the surgery if you would like to have a discussion around this.

I can assure you the patient co-ordinators are answering the telephone tirelessly day in day out and unfortunately, with the current system there are a huge amount of patients all trying to get through at the same time. We are confident our new appointment system launching in September will alleviate some of this pressure - if you would like more information about this, details can be found on our Facebook page, website or by calling the surgery.

Telephone appointments are the new normal, the majority of patients prefer these as they are more convenient around work - however if your problem was something that needed to be examined, we can certainly arrange a face to face appointment.

I hope you start to see an improvement in the service very soon and I am very sorry you have been disappointed and left feeling like nobody cares.

Kindest Regards

Alice Vickers

Deputy Practice Manager.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Nobody Cares (the patient)

Thank you for your response.

It was the doctor that I had my telephone appointment with who informed me I would have to call in and make a further appointment.

In my opinion, telephone appointments being the 'new normal' is farcical, a doctor being unable to see a patient fails to pick up on visible signs of potential problems. I personally hate telephone appointments, discussing your problem over the phone with a doctor, to then be told you have to go into the surgery, is wasting time for both the doctor and the patient.

Medication reviews are noted on our prescriptions as being overdue. I called the practice to book an appointment with the nurse, the receptionist asked me if I had received a letter inviting me for my review, I said no, it is stated on my prescription that my review is overdue, I was then informed you can't book in for a review until you receive a letter? Why are you still including it on prescriptions if you do not want patients to act upon it?

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