Birbeck Medical Group 2015-10-20 Person 4 5 0

I had made an appointment 3 weeks prior to coming to the surgery. It was difficult to find an acceptable date which is why it took 3 weeks before I could have an appointment. On the day of my appointment at around 8am, I received a phone call from the practice which I was unable to answer because I was in the shower. However a message was left on my answer phone asking me to ring the surgery regarding the appointment. As soon as I was able I rang the practice as requested but it was answered with a voice message about the surgery being closed until 8.30am. I decided to check online to see what time the practice opened and found that it said 8am, so I rang again but only received the same message. I decided to wait until 8.30, but then when I rang the line was engaged and I was requested to press 5 for ringback. This I did but the service was not available. So I kept ringing redial on my phone but getting the same message each time. My appointment was for 9.15am and was getting close and I was unsure what to do. I tried again at about 8.45 and was put in a queue to speak to a receptionist. When at last I did get through and explained why I was ringing I was informed that the reason for the initial phone call was to inform me that the doctor that I was due to see was unwell and my appointment had been passed to the duty team and was that ok with me. As I hadn't seen the doctor that I was due to see before being moved to another was no problem for me. The appointment went fine and I am very satisfied with the consultation but I feel that this message informing me of the situation, as it was not of a personal nature, could have been left on my answer phone with a request for me to ring if I had a problem with seeing a different doctor. As it was it took a lot of unnecessary time and effort to keep ringing the practice and getting no where. Of course I would understand that the phones at the practice may not start to be answered until 8.30 but it did not say that on your website. Other than this everything else was fine.