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Phone never works

Story from nhs.uk

"Phone never works"

About: Beaumont Villa Surgery

Don't waste your time phoning this surgery. u need to make 30 to 40 rings to get through them any time of the day. Usual busy in a GP surgery in the mornings is understandable, but how comes the same problem remains in the afternoon or evening or even at closing hours at 5 days a week...

Once you explain all to receptionist, there is no appointment, u get a call back from Doctor and some home remedy advice.. with blaa bla bla... There is no online appointment system. they should consider something to speed up the customer care over the phone. If they can't cope, stop admitting new patients or employee more doctors. I believe they have 15000 or more patients. so all may be busy signing repeated prescriptions rather than actually dealing with real patients and the physical conditions.

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Responses

Response from Beaumont Villa Surgery 5 years ago
Beaumont Villa Surgery

Submitted on 10/12/2018 at 21:01
Published on nhs.uk on 12/12/2018 at 02:35

Thank you for your feedback.

We totally acknowledge things are difficult.

There are issues getting through on the phone are because the demand on general practice is continually rising faster than the funding to support that work.

There is a long message advising patients to look at alternative services such as the pharmacy or NHS choices as often patients do not need to see a GP and can manage the symptoms themselves or with the help of a pharmacist.

The reason you may get called at 7pm and receive home remedy advice is because this is what is appropriate and this is something your pharmacist could probably have helped you with sooner. Be part of the solution and don't overload general practice when other services are available to meet your needs.

Sorry to nag - but please do use the most suitable service for your needs : )

We are trying to recruit more doctors but it can be challenging recruiting in inner city Plymouth because the workload is intense and it takes a special type of doctor to work so hard for patients without necessarily being thanked - similarly for our reception and nursing teams - we are all working very hard with the resource available - why not try thanking our teams for all the hard work they are doing in the face of such adversity?

If you really want to be part of the solution please get involved and join our patient participation group.

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