I moved from a deprived area to Stoke Gifford and had to change Doctors. Stoke Gifford medical centre being closest. Its been 3 months, the first month i had to put in for my first repeat prescription. I rang a week ahead and explained i had done so to give plenty of time if they needed to check my records etc.. I was told it would be ready a day or so later (which i thought was excellent)i rang again two days later to be told the prescription had been sent to my pharmacy. I left it until it could be collected (another 2 days later), only to be told the prescricption hadnt been sent and wasnt showing on the system at all. I have terrible anxiety and this sent it through the roof!. After umpteen phone calls i was blamed for their lack of service, i had apparently rung too early, should have allowed time, all the things i had actually done, after again explaining my mental health situation, i was told i would have the prescription in time and a doctor would call me. This was half 4 on a friday. There was no call, We had spent over an hour in the pharmacy waiting for the thing to come through. It never arrived. Baring in mind the medication i needed was controlled painkillers and without them i could get serious side effects, but that didnt seem to matter. I rang on the following Monday after luckily managing to borrow enough medication to get me through the weekend. I asked what happened to the doctors call, to be told by the same receptionist she had 'hoped a doctor would call me'.. (an outright lie) that i was told the friday before. I had a call once i'd put in a complaint, and by the time i received it i had calmed down, said i didnt want to get anybody into trouble, and that with my poor mental health i just needed to ensure something that had always been a easy process, stayed just that. The reception manager assured me it would (and she did seem very apologetic). Last month i rang a week ahead again, explained there had been a mix up last time and i just wanted to ensure it didn't happen again. I got the prescription sent relatively easy, but then received a sarky sounding text msg from the doctor that had signed it, a lecture on how NOT (his words) to take more medication than nessacary, and that it WOULD NOT be given early again!.. so now i am likely down as not only a nuisance patient, i am probably down as abusing a controlled medication.., and all because the receptionist who took my order didnt explain to the doc that it was requested early purely to ensure it would be ready for the due date.. I promptly took a picture of the medication i still had left over to show to the doctor when i eventually had a proper appointment, and put to rest the obvious assumption i had an issue with these painkillers.. I have been on them a very long time for back pain issues, am in my 50's and never once abused them! (and i dont care in the slightest if the medical centre guesses who i am from my review, i dont think they could give me any worse service than already experienced and intend to leave asap for a doctors that actually helps people, not exacerbates their mental health issues). Think thats the end?.. Wrong!.. This month i resquested my medication again, and also arranged appointments for other family members, one of whom has a serious kidney issue that needs attention. The receptionist made all the appointments, all of which had to be telephone calls due to poor mental health (also being first time), but very much needed due to the kidney issue. The first appointment came and went yesterday morning and no call came.. no explanation, nothing.. I rang today to check my prescription and ask about the phone appointment, to which she didnt even respond other than to say the prescription had been sent, i wont believe it til i hear from the pharmacy (and not the one attached to the surgery!). If it turns out my family members kidney issue has worsened, you can bet i will hold this surgery responsible!. I would never recommend.

Phone service is always so busy and it is clear that only 1 person is on the phones as you're the same number in the queue for 10 minutes. There needs to be several people answering calls. So many times I have raised a ticket over their online service and I have to eventually call them a week later as I have not had a response. This gp needs more staff who can answer the phones on busy periods and staff who can quickly serve customers.

The Drs I see are really helpful, last time I saw the Dr was back in July/August. This was only after breaking down in tears on the phone that a Dr called me and got me to come in.Trying to book an appointment here is horrendous, especially for my Asthma. I have been turned away in the past when I have had issues with my asthma or come close to running out of inhalers. I then have to go to the hospital. I have flagged this up to the practice manager and I’ve had no response, so I have option but to look for another surgery as the stress of trying and failing to get an appointment is too much.
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