Dr Julius Bourke

Dr Julius Bourke 2023-05-17 Person 1 5 0

First appointment was really positive. He was witty sharp and gave his full attention even if he was a little arrogent he can get away with it. I felt hopeful when I left. Second appointment I feel I've basically paid for a very very negative experience. I was contacted by Dr Bourkes secretary asking whether I could arrive an hour early. I explained that I couldn't and was told that my appointment would be 10 minutes earlier than previously confirmed- which was fine. From the moment we entered the room Dr Bourke explained that I'd not got much time as I'd only booked a follow-up appointment (which his secretary had confirmed would be 30 minutes). So I started to speed talk..whilst feeling even more anxious. I said that I wanted Dr Bourke to be in charge of my care - he said it's complicated because of my location. After 10 minutes he said 'we are done here' which I found very confusing. We tried to continue and to explain the current situation but was asked by Dr Bourke what is my question. My question was could he help me, and he replied that isn't a question. He hastily booked me in for 3 weeks time via zoom and again said we're done here. He was glancing up at the wall quite often - so I looked up to where his gaze went to - a clock. After 18 minutes he explained that he did have a meeting he needed to get to and opened the door for us to leave. We sat in the reception area for about an hour talking about what had just happened as neither of us could believe it. After a few minutes Dr Bourke appeared at the reception desk perhaps to sign out and then 'ran' down the stairs and out the building, the receptionist shouted 'have a good one'. This lead us to have the opinion that Dr Bourke was perhaps not headed to another meeting. He also suggested during the appointment that I speak with bupa to find out if they would cover me for at least 2 weeks in hospital. In my troubled vunerable mind I was thinking that I'd need to do this, I want to be hospitalised and to feel safe and to find a way forward, but my friend brought me back to reality. This person who's going to be in charge of my care in hospital, was the person who had just given me the most uncaring, unhopeful, most negative experience I've ever lever had the displeasure to be paying for. Why would he be any different if I was an inpatient. I appreciate this is a very negative review, but I believe it to be fair. I'd imagine Dr Bourke can be very charming and funny and if I'd met him in a different setting I'd probably have a very different opinion. But I learnt very quickly that he does not genuinely care, and is very much lacking in patience. I thought about this situation long and hard before posting this review. I'd discussed it with close friends, and decided not to act straight away and I also naively thought that Dr Bourke might have reflected upon the way he treated me that day, and even that he may apologise and offer me an appointment to see him again FOC. Even after sending him our concerns, he responded to each point very efficiently, explaining that this was not the case in terms of his experience. I'm very grateful that my close friend sat in on the meeting with me, else I would have doubted my own judgement. She was in full disbelief over the experience as was I, and she even believed that I was being mocked by Dr Bourke when I explained my current eating habits since being on mirtazapine. I feel really sad about leaving this review because I have never seen a private phychatrist before and expected much more. Positives were the receptionist, who was really kind when I mentioned that my appointment had been 18 minutes and wd my invoice reflect this. She said I'd need to get in touch with Dr Bourkes secretary. It was explained to me they l that appointments can be from 5 to 20 minutes and that the invoice remains the same - and that this is detailed in the ts&Cs. Admittedly I'm not one for reading terms and conditions so I'm partially to blame but I also feel fully confident that my appointment was cut short due to Dr Bourkes social calender.

Dr Julius Bourke 2020-02-24 Person 1 5 0

Dr Bourke relies heavily on medication. He does not appear to be very interested in the person sitting in front of him, nor does he seem able to listen to their concerns regarding any adverse reactions that they may experience to his prescriptions. People are not test tubes nor are they cultures grown on agar jelly. It can be terribly damaging to be treated as a chemistry set, in fact I cannot imagine any circumstance in which it could be beneficial. Had I been less unwell, I would have wAlked away long before I did.

Dr Julius Bourke 2019-06-04 Person 1 5 0

I didn't get good service from Dr Bourke. I got his details from Capio Nightingale and saw him privately at a different clinic. He covered the issues I had on his bio. In fact he was the only Dr in London who did. However, his approach was too much of 'take this medication.' I came to him for (in part) for severe anxiety caused by a bad reaction to medication for a physical ailment. I got the sense that whatever I had presented to him that day he would have suggested medication. I also felt like he didn’t listen to me and my story but only to certain parts of my story. He treated my symptoms and not the human being in front of him. Someone else might find better but I did not at all hence me giving 2 stars.

Dr Julius Bourke 2017-01-26 Person 5 5 0

After living with m.e, and fibromyalgia for many years dr Burke was the only doctor who listened attentively and really understood my conditions. He has given me new hope that there is someone in the medical field who actually cares for his patients. I felt heard and important as we should all feel. Even if there is no cure I look forward and feel confident that my condition will improve. Thank you for caring and doing your job.