"A credit to your practice."

I'm aware that Maghull Practice has changed providers and premises. It was run by SSP and  left and they got others in, although I couldn't even tell you who the other providers were.

The service is now run by interim provider UC24, and has moved from the Parkhaven site to Maghull Health Centre. I've been with this GP for many years, and to be honest I feel like it was abysmal; with in my experiance staff working there were rude and had a complete lack of empathy towards me, I never saw the same doctor more than once and they were all locums who made you feel rushed and like another number.

So when I passed out on my train to work, I wasn't looking forward to getting checked out at the GP.

I started calling early to get an appointment, and rang 3 times before I was answered, which I was very impressed and surprised by. I explained the situation to the very friendly receptionist, who upon hearing I'd lost consciousness, offered me the first appointment of the day with the senior nurse practitioner. I couldn't get there that quickly so she booked me in for 9. 30am. I was so pleased by the lack of wait and quick access to an appointment.

I arrived at the health centre, and it really is a run down place. The carpark was full to bursting, with cars lining the double yellows on the streets, likely due to the many many services that are here and the less than adequate car park capacity.

The building itself  in my opinion, looks very old with unpleasant decor. I followed the signage to the reception, and when I arrived there were 3 different windows for different services. I located the one for 'Maghull Practice', but when I tried to give my name in, the receptionist looked confused and asked who I was hear to see. Turns out the signs on the windows don't really apply and different staff from the multitude of services basically swap and change their windows and seats, which was confusing and basically, disorganised chaos.

When I finally got to speak to the correct receptionist who was lovely, I took a seat in the waiting room. The decor in there is again, old and dreary. One wall was so covered in wonky posters and leaflets that it looked like it's own wallpaper, with many of them being outdated anyway but no one had removed them.

The layout of the centre as not been well thought through at all - As the carer of a wheelchair user, I know it would be very difficult to even get into the waiting room as all of the doors are manual heavy old fashioned doors, and would be a nightmare to open for some disabled people.

Also, the space by the reception windows is so inadequate that a wheelchair user would struggle to even approach the window, which is likely due to the sheer volume of chairs in the room - The waiting room is shared with other services, so they've clearly wanted to get as many seats in as possible, and while I appreciated having somewhere to sit, the layout clearly doesn't fit the room - there wouldn't even be anywhere for a wheelchair to be 'parked' due to the number of rows of chairs - please think this through better.

Thankfully I didn't wait long at all and was called in my a smiling nurse who introduced herself as Paula. Paula led me through to the consultation room, and actively listened to what I was saying, and showed actual empathy and concern. She quickly diagnosed the cause of my fainting as well as a secondary issue which she was able to prescribe something for. I didn't feel at all rushed and she made me feel very comfortable. Even though I was feeling unwell, she had me smiling and laughing.

I'm a young woman who is due for her first smear test soon, and am expectedly anxious, but now having met Paula, this anxiety has passed and I know that I would feel comfortable in seeing Paula again for my smear, or in fact, anything.

I would wholeheartedly choose to see Paula again - She was friendly, empathetic, patient and humorous - traits that I haven't rarely seen in my past GP's. Perhaps Paula should do some workshops  on effective bedside manner!

I'd really hope that this feedback gets back to Paula and her superiors. She is a credit to your practice.