"Absolutely poor service, again and again."

Trying to get an appointment with Beacon medical is near impossible, and you definitely can't book one for later in the week, unless they happen to call you and offer you an appointment.

I was called up yesterday and asked to come in for a blood test, for an appointment next week. Now, time off for me is difficult, as I'm not only working but also in my last year of a degree. But I managed to wrangle off the afternoon to get this done.

I live 15 minutes away, now I figured giving myself 35 minutes to get there would be enough - most of the main roads were blocked up with roadworks, but one was completely open two days ago. Not today! Every single route between my home and Beacon Medical was full of roadworks and tailbacks.

I arrived at the GP just over 5 minutes late (7, including finding a parking space). The receptionist flat out refused to let me have my bloods taken, and expected me to just trot off to the hospital to have them done. Didn't care that it wasn't my fault that I was stuck in traffic, didn't care that this was the only time I could get off, just refused to help me in any way. And somehow I was meant to magic up blood results in time for my appointment next week? An absolute joke. I had to reschedule both my blood test and the original appointment. And I wasted an hour and a half stuck in traffic. Time is money and today mine has been wasted.

Would I recommend Beacon Medical to anyone, ever? No. For the poor service I've received over the last few years, I'd sooner recommend a bottle of whiskey and a rusty saw. I can't fault the actual doctors and nurses, they've been (mostly) very reasonable. It's the admin staff that need to be dealt with.