"Disappointed"

In all honesty having long been a patient of the practice, I am disappointed to have to be writing this review. I have had more than my fair share of problems with the practice of recent times, and it was a member of the reception staff who asked me if I would like to complete a friend and family review.

I am a big believer in doing my part to help the practice by following the practice processes and treat all members of staff that I come into contact with in a respectful manner. Unfortunately, there have been six occasions all within a very short period of events that could have been avoided if the practice had followed its own processes etc. Instead, processes have not followed, and this has resulted in a great deal of stress and anxiety in which to get matters sorted out with the practice. I would have felt different if the practice had personally spoken to me and apologised for the matters. Instead, it was opted to just not take the time to treat me as a person and personally apologise for the practice letting me down. There is no excuse in my eyes for this unprofessional manner.

I feel the turnover of staff in the practice has not helped in terms of the service received at times. There is suppose to be a self-check-in screen for pre-booked appointments and this is rarely working and with one person on the reception area and a long queue of patients does not help when you arrive in good time for a nurse/Doc appointment. As it seems other patients have quite complex queries that take time and of course this is all perfectly fine. What is not really acceptable is when I am then told I am late even though I was at the Drs 10 minutes before my appointment. I also find it quite unhelpful that when calling up I am told that there are no appointments with a specific Dr that there are other Drs I can see. What reception do not seem to understand is that the appointments are only for 10 minutes and if it is not my Dr I have been seeing about the issues time is taken up discussing all the history which gives me no time to discuss my concerns etc. I also find that as much as I am conscious of the 10 minutes other patients are happy to take up nearly 3 x 10 minutes meaning that all the other patient's appointments than end up running late which is not right.

I would like to say the various Drs I have seen at the practice have been professional and very good to me when it comes to seeing them about my concerns. I just find that if some more care towards patients from the front end of the practice was carried out and some customer service skills it may well mean this review in terms of the ratings could be better.