Dr Sarah Ravenscroft 2018-07-30 Person 5 5 0

I consider Sarah Ravenscroft to be the top GP in the practice. The entire village fights to get appointments with her, and in fact, it is something of a kudos if your friends learn you have managed to see her. She is extremely compassionate and goes way beyond the basic role of being GP to make sure her patients are well cared for. I especially like the fact that she is always listening carefully to what I am saying, and believes what I say to be true, that I am not being dramatic. With a serious chronic illness and sometimes very depressed by my circumstances, it makes a world of difference to know that one's GP is hearing your distress and tracking the situation enough to know when danger circumstances might be arising. I appreciate that she has phoned me in the evening on a number of occasions (after 8pm) to sort out a niggle in care that needs to be sorted out before morning . . . such as getting prescriptions ordered or seeing a specialist consultant. I appreciate that my needs have been great over a period of years and I have had to make a lot of demands on the NHS but she does not forget that I also have the basic health problems equal to all other patients. Menopause, eye infections, warts and moles even! She is making sure that my basic physical health is not being neglected despite the large amount of energy she must expend due to my mental illness diagnosis. I appreciate that she never loses her cool -- and how she does it, I do not know! The days are long and patients are sometimes waiting a long time to see her and can be grumpy. But she does not let her professionalism slip. I appreciate that she does allow patients the time they need to have a good consultation with her and that her delays are for good causes. I think the surgery might be wise to make patients better informed that she is running late because another person earlier on the rota has an important medical issue that must not be rushed. But even better, I think the NHS should give doctors like Dr Ravenscroft more minutes per appointment to do their jobs well. She has to make very important decisions very quickly. She deserves better support from NHS upper management . . . at the trust level, not the surgery as I do believe it is her husband that is in charge and I do not wish to cause her any marital conflict via my comments here :) -- you're a good GP too, Dr Shaw!