"Medical service great...Phone & appointment..."

I have unfortunately needed to attend Upperthorpe medical centre quite regularly due to ongoing issues with my health which are still unresolved.

I can't fault the service you receive once you get an appointment with a medical professional there. All the GP's and nurses are attentive caring and compassionate. You are signposted to appropriate services when needed and they are very thorough with ordering a range of diagnostic tests.

One significant issue that is in need of reviewing is the inability to be able to get through on the phone to book an appointment. Today it took me 102 attempts to be connected into the automated triage option system to speak to staff. This is really unacceptable. If you are using an automated system it is possible to allow people to go through this system and be put in a holding queue rather than just connecting them to nothing and playing the engaged tone before the line is dropped. I have been under several surgeries that operate a hold queuing system and I feel this would be better than just not connecting people at all as at least then you would know where you are in the queue.

Another issue is that getting an appointment is incredibly difficult. If you want to see a specific GP you can expect to wait at least 3 weeks. Getting an appointment on the same day is almost impossible due to the issues with the telephone system detailed above. I wonder whether running a walk in and wait system say a few half days during the week may help with opening up appointment availability. I know lots of surgeries use this system and at least this means you can be seen when you are sick and in need of medical advice. This would also ease the pressure on the phone system.