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12th May 2022


Pros: I've been with this doctors for several years now. I have multiple disabilities, and Dr Richard has been a lifesaver for those, I'm also transgender, and having Dr Hall, a openly trans man, as a doctor has made managing my hormones lots easier! Nurse Rhoda is honestly one of the most caring medical practitioners I've ever met, and despite having anxiety surrounding medical stuff, I look forward to seeing her. She always goes above and beyond in making me comfortable and trying to help. Cons: However, over the last 2 years with covid, the practice has gone drastically downhill. You have to fill out an econsult to be able to get an appointment, which are useless if you have a chronic condition, as it will just tell you they can't assess you online the vast majority of the time (like if I put my pain above a 6, even though my usual pain levels are a 7 or 8), so you have to lie. If you need an emergency appointment, I'd just go to the local walk-in, don't bother waiting for the doctors to call. I phoned 3 days ago about not being able to keep food/water/medication (including my heart medication) down with 111 saying to talk to my GP within 2 hours, and I still haven't been contacted. I understand that they are busy, but honestly? It's probably due to the fact they keep taking more and more patients without increasing the size of the surgery. Not to mention it's basically impossible to get through on the phone, even when I've been #6 in the queue, it's taken more than 90 minutes to get through. If and when you do get an appointment, it's hardly ever face-to-face, even though I am autistic and get distressed about phone calls. This is made even worse by the fact they don't actually give you a time they're going to ring. Any phone appointments are just supposed to get done by the end of the day (which doesn't even happen sometimes). This is awful for me as I have a sleep disorder and really struggle to stay awake all day. I have missed multiple phone calls due to them ringing while I'm asleep, despite me always putting in my econsults to call before 2pm as I'll likely be asleep after that. Some of the doctors don't even read the econsult they're calling you about. They'll ask you to explain everything that is going on, which for me can take the entire allotted time, and they'll ask exactly the same questions that they have the answers to right in front of them, they just haven't read it. Overall, I used to love this surgery, but it's gone so downhill since covid. If it wasn't for the fact the 2 doctors and the nurse named above know my chronic illnesses well, I'd have moved to a different surgery long ago. I'm still debating it after being left for 3 days (so far) being unable to keep anything down. If you want to join this surgery, you'll probably be accepted, but good luck trying to get an appointment!

Suggested improvements
Stop taking on patients when you can't give your current ones appointments in an appropriate timescale.

Experience
Involvement
Cleanliness
Staff
Appointment