The surgery has been awful since merging a couple of years ago and especially since Covid. Whenever I call up to ask to speak to an on call doctor I am either told to call 111 or call again in the morning and to call between 8 and 3, what are you meant to do then if your working hours are 7:30am-4pm and cannot answer your phone at work?? The last two times I have called up as I need to speak to a doctor I have been told to call 111 instead, why are doctors not available for those of us that work outside of the times asked? Why should I be punished and not be able to speak to a doctor just because of my working hours? I may as well not have a doctor if I am just being told to call 111 whenever I ring up! We can’t even choose a time to be called if a doctor calls you either or book face to face appointments, surely it is taking up more time to have both phone appointments and face to face appointments with the same patients for the same reason when you could have just seen them face to face in the first place for an issue which clearly needs examining in person? You also shouldn’t have to wait in a queue of 30 odd individuals to get an appointment, it used to be much more convenient when you could also book online. So many things need improving, but the main thing is I should be able to speak to a doctor and have access to one when I need it!!!

Sadly I am writing this review in desperation and hope that Eastwood care practice review their covid practices. I attended the practice for a internal scan. A healthcare practitioner/nurse (I hope she wasn’t a nurse) opened the door with her face mask under her nose. I jokingly reminded her that her mask had slipped. She laughed and said that we weren’t in a clinical setting. She also didn’t ask if I had any COVID symptoms. I was then taken to the clinic room to which I had to firmly asked again for her to put her mask on properly before I could enter the room. She adjusted her mask this time. On entering the clinic room I was shocked how small the room was with no ventilation. I was even more shocked to see another clinician (male) in the corner of the room. At this point I said that I could not have an internal procedure in the small room with no ventilation and with three people in this tiny room. In the trust that I work in this size of room would only be used for one clinical and would not meet Covid guidelines. Sadly this was a waste of an appointment to an already stretched service.