Phoned at 4:37pm on Thursday 10th October to get a contraception appointment - was put on hold for 33min and then told that my account had been inactivated and that I should come in person with my passport. The next day, I took time off work to do that and found that my account was still active. Is that a tactic that is used on every patients that phone at 4:30pm so that they don't do this again? Also, the first appointment you get with a GP is by phone. You have to call them at 8:00 sharp or else you do not get any appointment, and then the doctor can call you anytime during the day - which is very impractical when you have back to back meetings at work. This leaves me with the option of telling about the ca. 15 colleagues I would interact with on that day that I may receive a call from my GP during the meeting (with the next question being "are you alright?") or leaving my phone behind missing the call from the doctor, and having to do this all again the following day. GPs and nurses are very lovely professionals though.
Original Comment Report...

I am 65+ and have various lifetime, long term and age-related medical problems. The surgery has wonderful (recently enlarged) facilities, and very good medical staff. However it has been swamped by too many new patients at a time when GPs are retiring and hard to replace. I recently had to spend £90 to see a GP privately elsewhere for 30 minutes as I was getting symptoms that needed an all overall health assessment that the "10 minutes - one problem" system at New Hayesbank would not be able to cope with. I am now very frightened that if I go down with something serious that needs to be seen urgently I might die before I could get help. I have already left less critical but painful medical problems unseen for many months as I know that seeing an NHS doctor is now almost impossible at New Hayesbank. The "cradle to grave" NHS service, which I was once led to believe I might receive as I grew older, is now at the point of collapse.
Original Comment Report...

The frustration is that there doesn't seem to be any option where I live. Anyway, it's clear this surgery is trying to serve way more patients that they can actually handle. The receptionists keep trying to play the doctor role; one of them actually told me that since the ENT test I had done came back negative there was nothing to worry about. Too bad there is still the option the problem lies elsewhere. And if I had had a chance to explain the evolution of my symptoms to someone who holds a degree in medicine, perhaps things would've gone differently. Not to mention some dubious professionals I recently interacted with, who--and this seems to be becoming a common NHS practice--tried to accuse me of hypochondria. Easy escape when you don't actually know how to do your job: just blame the patient it's all in their mind. Ridiculous.
Original Comment Report...