Ashdown Forest Health Centre 2016-08-11 Person 1 5 0

The service of this GP is shocking. Over the last 9 years I have been coming here, the service is definitely at its worst - and even by their good standards they were pretty bad. I've been trying for over a week (11 days) to get an appointment after work due to a serious/urgent problem I need to get medical attention for, it isn't quite worth wasting A&E's time and would like to see a GP who knows me and the issue at hand. Alas, this surgery can't even offer me a phone call. The receptionists have been nothing but rude and arrogant, and have absolutely no idea on how to manage a situation with a customer who is angry and distressed. Over my last 9 years of being a patient here, I have seen my assigned GP around 3 times. Baring in mind I've been to this surgery a lot regarding a respiratory condition I have which requires frequent appointments - I never see the same doctor regarding my issue. Whenever I have a 'follow up' I end up repeating everything I said to the last doctor and getting a completely different outcome. Its confusing and completely unsettling. On many, many occasions over the last 9 years, I have struggled to get appointments at this surgery. This has been echoed today, when the receptionists tell me to 'just take a day off work' - I can't afford to, I'm tight on my money to pay my rent, I can't afford to take time off to come to your surgery. There is never any evening appointments, there is never any morning appointments. And when you do get an appointment you usually wait an added extra of 40/50 minutes to see your doctor who will rush you in and out within a matter of 5 minutes. When offered a saturday morning service, I was then told I wouldn't be able to do the weekend coming I'd have to wait until the following week to get my urgent situation seen to. In the end I called another surgery to ask for their assistance and they were nothing but compliant and helping to take a patient who was greatly distressed and put me at ease in their service.