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Terrible disorganisation and unwillingness to help

Story from nhs.uk

"Terrible disorganisation and unwillingness to help"

About: Stratford Village Surgery

I have been with this surgery for a few years and have always found it difficult to get timely appointments (even if urgent) but in the last year it has become steadily worse. I joined after doing lots of research and reading positive reviews but I have seen little evidence of it.

Doctors and nurses are generally polite and helpful (when you do manage to see them) but the reception staff are rude by default. I have experienced this myself and also witnessed it with other patients when queuing at the surgery. Staff have a set of terse stock responses to all issues, and you have to work really hard (insist, beg or both) to have them actually listen to you when you try to explain your situation. This is especially frustrating as administrative errors there are common (eg. wrong appointment times, missing prescriptions or test results) but there seems to be virtually no communication between staff so you find yourself explaining errors/issues again and again.

I have now changed GP surgeries as I have found that staff share a condescending and negative attitude towards patients and an unwillingness to listen or show compassion. Even when errors are admitted, there is no apology or accountability so it’s clear that there is no respect for the patients they are meant to be supporting.

Expect long waits for appointments, admin errors and rude, unhelpful staff.

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Responses

Response from Stratford Village Surgery 4 months ago
Stratford Village Surgery

Submitted on 14/12/2023 at 12:36
Published on nhs.uk on 17/12/2023 at 19:42

Dear Patient,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. We sincerely apologise for any frustration or inconvenience you encountered during your time with our surgery. We take your feedback seriously and regret that we fell short of your expectations in several aspects.

Firstly, we appreciate your positive remarks about our doctors and nurses, and we're pleased to hear that they were polite and helpful during your interactions, however, we are genuinely sorry for the difficulties you faced with timely appointments and the challenges you encountered with our reception staff.

We acknowledge the importance of effective communication and empathetic service and it's disheartening to hear that you experienced a lack of understanding and compassion from our team. Your feedback about administrative errors is also concerning and we understand the frustration that can arise from such issues.

We are committed to addressing these concerns and improving our services. We have shared your comments with our team to ensure that we work on enhancing communication, reducing administrative errors and fostering a more positive and respectful environment.

We understand that you have chosen to change GP surgeries and we respect your decision. If there's anything specific you'd like to discuss further or if you have additional feedback, please feel free to contact us directly. We value your input and are committed to making the necessary improvements.

Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention, and we again apologise for any inconvenience you experienced while under our care.

Stratford Village Surgery

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