Birchington Medical Centre

Birchington Medical Centre 2020-08-11 Person 0 5 0

My husband had a severe back issue which flared up again. All we wanted was more of the painkillers prescribed previously....he has been trouble free for a long, long time but luckily there were a few of the painkillers left. Thinking he would be able to get an emergency prescription...kept on hold for ages, once got through told to call back at 2p.m.....bearing in mind he got through to them at 1.45pm?!!! Called back, on hold 27 mins to be told by some unsympathetic, uncaring and cold...cold fish comes to mind, that all the appointments have gone call back tomorrow for the potluck option of being able to 1. get through, 2. get an appointment. All he wanted was a telephone consultation from a Dr...but oh no, let's create more pain for someone already in pain, and if any of you reading this has suffered through back issues you know what that pain is! Ironically we called 111 who tried to get through to the GP to advise them they need to contact my husband within 6 hours...but hey guess what they couldn't get through either! Ruddy JOKE! I suggest you seek you medical care from another practice because when you really need help, I mean really need help you won't get it from there!

Train your staff to be more understanding to people's plight, get more staff to answer the phones and how about a little kindness too!

Birchington Medical Centre 2020-06-26 Person 1 5 0

cannot get through to reception to make a appointment, waited for over an hour on hold on the phone to be told call back the next day . All I wanted was a quick 5 mins telephone consultation with a GP about my sons condition and further treatment. I do not know how the receptionist decide what is an emergency and what is not. When you are on hold for hours on the phone this is not good customer service. It is appalling to wait so long to speak to the front desk.

Birchington Medical Centre 2020-06-26 Person 5 5 0

Excellent, quick friendly service from reception staff and Dr Martin. Gold star goes to Ruth for her swift and efficient help in getting me referred for consultant help. At any time their service has been good, it in these Corona virus times, it’s even more impressive. Huge thank you to you all for your help. As an Ex NHS staff member, I know what a hard job it is.

Birchington Medical Centre 2020-06-04 Person 2 5 0

My experienced have been very mixed; Reception staff are rude, lack compassion and speak to patients as if they are an inconvenience to them. If they were in any kind of customer facing role, the majority of them would not have a job, however being as they service the public, they get away with acting this way. Doctors have been generally very good, Dr Pal in particular was very attentive and took time to explain all aspects of blood test results to provide a good understanding. However, there is one exception from a doctor who telephoned me who I did not get the name of (possible locum). He had very little interest in what I had to say and quickly dismissed the pain I was in by asking how old I was and if I was overweight. I was still talking at the end of the call when he said ‘call us back if it gets worse, bye’ and hung up the line. Whilst I appreciate doctors are very busy and he did ask questions, he did not recommend anything I could do to assist with the pain I was in and I ended up having to call back to the surgery and have another appointment anyway so any time saved by ending the call was wasted. Appointments are difficult to get unless you state it is an emergency which is odd because there is a separate option for this when you call. How you can decide what an emergency is as a layperson without any medical knowledge is a mystery to me. I don’t mind the triage service but it would be useful if there could at least be a window of time where the GP is likely to call. Overall a little compassion from the staff would go a long way to ease the tension felt by patients when trying to manage medical concerns.

Birchington Medical Centre 2020-05-07 Person 5 5 0

I would like to say a big thank you to nurses Karen and Barbara and Dr Martin for their care in the surgery and for sending me to QEQM for other help. Dr Martin and receptionist did a great job in making my consultant aware of what was happening. Went to see the consultant today. Thank you for everything.