"Brilliant Walk in Centre!"

Recently visited Selly Oak Walk in centre after being left disappointed and disheartened from a visit to a different health centre to see a female doctor to prescribe important medication.

As soon as I walked in, my first impressions were positive. The centre is very clean. Thanks to the signs about waiting times, I knew around about how long I would be waiting until I would be seen. Even though the waiting time is long, it was nice to know, rather than not know.

The procedure upon arriving is very simple and very organised. The receptionist who I went to (sorry I didn't ask your name), was very polite, greeted me with a smile and was generally quite pleasant. I felt welcomed and had a gut feeling that I would be okay and my needs for the day would be met. After briefly mentioning why I was there, she handed me a clean clipboard with a pen and told me to fill in the forms with details of my symptoms.

The procedure of filling in a form is a great idea. I really appreciate that the staff at the centre have thought of a process in which patients dignity and privacy is respected. The form system means a patient can only disclose medical information to those who need to know (doctors, nurses, admin) rather than the whole of the waiting room.

The questions on the form are simple and straightforward and I like how there is room for a person to write about anything else they feel is important. It really helped me to express myself, especially because on that day I had been left disappointed by other centres.

I was seen within 2hrs by a female doctor. She was straight to the point and did help me with part of what I needed that day. She did not rush the process of prescribing the medication I needed and gave me brief advice in the time she had. There were no errors on my prescription and she kindly replied to a few questions I had. The only thing I would fault slightly is I was not fully listened to when explaining aN issue which was more related to registering as a patient at health centres. I would have liked to have been listened too, but I appreciate there were many more patients who had to be seen.

Other comments:

- Nice, relaxing atmosphere

- Other patients in waiting area were very well behaved and patient.

Definitely will be coming back when needed.

Thank you to everyone at Selly Oak Walk-in Centre!