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Care Opinion

Poor service

Posted By Blackburn1

"Poor service"

About: General Practices in Grampian

(as the patient),

I have had the unfortunate experience of having to move to the Gilbert Road Medical Practice for the last 4 years.

I have tried to think of a positive experience to add to this post but I'm afraid I have none.

The final straw was this morning when I tried to get an appointment with a doctor. It was obvious from the start of the conversation this was definitely not going to happen even though I explained to the receptionist that the doctor told me to come back to see them.

I have been suffering with an infection since October and having tried to put off making an appointment due to the continual poor service, I had to accept an appointment with a nurse in November. Having visited the Nurse Practitioner which took less than 2 minutes I was prescribed antibiotics. Three weeks later things had got worse so I called back only to be asked was it an emergency. I eventually had to use the Diabetic card to get to see a doctor. Anyway the Doctor said that the original diagnoses was wrong and put me on more medication. Saying if I was not any better in 2 weeks to make an appointment to go back and see them (the Doctor). 4 weeks later I finally gave in and called back to see the Doctor to be told that I had to see a nurse as it was only an infection. I tried to explain that I had been told I had to go back and see the doctor specifically but the receptionist was having none of it.

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Responses

Response from Kirsten Dickson, Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team, NHS Grampian 5 years ago
Kirsten Dickson
Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 21/01/2019 at 12:21
Published on Care Opinion at 16:13

picture of Kirsten Dickson

Dear Blackburn1,

Thank you for sharing your experience of Gilbert Road Medical Practice. I’m sorry to hear that you have been suffering from an infection since October and have felt put off from contacting the practice. Feeling like you’re not being listened to can be frustrating and it takes a lot of energy to be persistent when you’re not well.

Unfortunately most of the GP practices in Grampian have had to implement some form of sign posting system to help them cope with the high numbers of patients they have, which don’t quite fit with the number of GP appointments available. This just means that the people handling the calls are tasked with offering appointments with someone other than a doctor to try to make the system more efficient, but as with all systems they aren't ideal for everyone. Most practices now offer an online appointment booking system where you should be able to see the vacant appointments and book without speaking to the reception staff. I haven’t used this system myself so I’m not sure exactly how it works - but if you contact the surgery they will be able to tell you if they offer this service and how to register etc. A bit of a late suggestion, but if the doctor has said they would like to see you in a couple of weeks, sometimes you're as well making the appointment with reception as you are leaving the surgery. Then you know your follow up is booked and you can always cancel if it turns out the appointment isn't needed.

However, I know the words above don’t help change what has happened so far or lessen the feeling of being let down. As most practices are run independently your best option would be to contact the practice manager and explain how you feel. You can do this in writing or over the phone - whichever you feel most comfortable with. I have shared your Care Opinion post with Ruth Hepburn (Practice Manager) and she would be happy to speak with you. Ruth can be contacted on telephone no: 01224 712138.

Kindest regards,

Kirsten

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