Reviews
Great care. Always friendly and easygoing.
Every time I have been in to The Acorn Group Practice I have been treated with such kindness and the reception staff are always so friendly and helpful. Thank you for your patience!
The doctors and nurses are so wonderful
Personal touch and professional advice
recommend to anyone looking for a GP practice in Twickenham
Every single time you call you can be sure to be treated rudely and abrupt. I would highly advice the doctors to get different receptionists.
Not only do they seem to know better than you about your illness but they know better than the doctors too.
The only reason why I have to go to this surgery is because it's the closest and I am not very mobile.
You never know what will happen when you call:
- Do I have to wait 20 minutes until they answer the call?
- Will they tell me that the system is down again?
- Will they just hang up?
- Will they say that the doctor hasn't looked at the notes yet?
- Or will they say that nothing was sent to the gp? (Although you called every day because it was urgent to get a sick note.)
Today all of the above happened to me. I had to call three times today. First time I waited ages until I hung up. Second time I waited 5 minutes, talked to someone and then got cut off. Third time was the charm. And then, although I had called every single day this week and the receptionists telling me I should call the day after to see if the sick note was ready to collect, they told me that nothing was recorded.
I am really sorry about my bad review because the doctors are really good.
Following your review the doctors have discussed the systems of working and changes are being implemented Thank you for your helpful comments.
One of your receptionists is extremely abrupt. One day, I telephoned, at the appropriate time, to ask whether my blood test results had arrived. I was told some results had arrived and others were still waiting to arrive from the lab at Kingston. I was advised to call back later in the week.
I telephoned back later in the week and spoke to the same receptionist. I asked whether the results had arrived back. The receptionist I spoke to said she was not allowed to tell me whether the results had arrived or not contrary to what she had done earlier in the week. The results could only be discussed with a GP. There is little point asking patients to call after 3pm for results if they cannot be discussed and receptionists cannot whether they have arrived back from the lab.
I also find your appointment booking system discriminates against those who work. I have found that if I need a same day appointment I have to start calling from 8.30am exactly and then kept waiting, on one occasion, for over forty minutes before being told that the appointment available is in Hampton Wick. Surely, using IT and online appointments, that must be a way of ensuring that same day appointments can be made available to those who are not at home or in Twickenham during the day.
On a positive point, I find the GPs very friendly, empathetic and clear, and the facilities superb.
Thank you for your comments. When a result is complete and ready for the patient the doctor indicates further action for the receptionist to give the patient. Before the result is complete we are now reviewing standard phrases for the receptionists to use. We review and modify the appointment system within the working day regularly to accommodate patient preference. We have pre-bookable appointments on Tuesday evenings.
Resources
Short link to review Acorn Group Practice: http://iwgc.net/ecdtl