"Such a shame"

I have been a patient at this surgery for a VERY long time and I am saddened that in a recent review of surgeries in Brighton printed in the Argus this surgery was rated 33rd out of 35. It used to be very good in the days when it was located next door (where Kamsons now is) and the doctors - what a team!

These days there are only two doctors that I prefer to see, and one that I definitely do NOT want to see. I feel that there are not enough permanent doctors at the surgery and most of those that are there do not work all week. Unfortunately my two favourite doctors fall into that category. That means the chances of seeing one of my preferred doctors is minimal so I feel that I am ‘fobbed off’ on one of the Advanced Nurse Practitioners. They are OK but I want to see a doctor. The nursing staff are great, particularly two of them. The appointment system is ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. It was changed last year and although booking on-line is possible appointments are released a day at a time so like the telephone system you need to get on-line at 8.00 am to book although it’s likely that you will find no more than 3 appointments to choose from! I try and avoid phoning at 8 on a Monday morning as it can take 20 minutes to get through, having pressed redial over 100 times.

As other reviewers have said, by the time you get through on the phone all the appointments for that day have gone. On more than one occasion I have put the phone down and burst into tears because of not being able to make an appointment. The surgery needs to have a complete rethink about its booking system.

The reception staff are a bit hit and miss. Some of them give their name when answering the phone so that gives you a bit of a link with that person, but others don’t. I have thought of changing surgeries but don’t want to start from scratch with a new place and the unique selling point for this one is that it is only 3 minutes walk from where I live. There are others about 10 minutes away but they don't score much higher in reviews. I want Park Crescent to take a long hard look at itself and make some improvements - starting with the appointments system - and aim to be in the top 10 of Brighton surgeries.