"Post-natal follow up"

Since joining the patient group of this GP practice I have been fairly happy with the care provided by the team. I am however disappointed and frustrated with the appointment availability. I gave birth to my daughter on the 7th June, I was informed that I would need to have an appointment with my GP in 6-8 weeks for both myself and my daughter, this would check both my recovery after my caesarean, and discuss contraception etc. it is also to check over my daughter and to give her the first lot of her vaccinations. The advice and information given to me and my husband was that they would book this on the same day for efficiency, and to help with getting my new-born daughter to and from the practice. I have been given 3 separate appointments spaced out over a week, this doesn't include the appointment I will require for my contraception I am wanting which they presumably will not be able to issue me with on the same day. The receptionist was very apologetic about this.

It can be difficult to get an appointment at the best of times, they only issue them within 2 weeks so if you are advised to have a follow-up in any time longer than 2 weeks you are unable to book it until they release them, and then hope that there is an available one for the doctor you need to see on the right date. I also feel that having come from a GP practice where I was under the care of a dedicated GP who I was able to develop a good patient doctor relationship with and build trust in over the years, I do feel that this would be a way of improving the care this GP provides if they were to bring in this way of running the practice. The telephone answering service can be especially hard when it comes to the dispensary, the do not answer so you need to leave a voicemail and get them to call you back, they do not do this quickly and when they do, on one of the occasions I was driving on the A1 and asked them to call me back in 20minutes or so which she agreed to - no call back was made.