Burnham Health Centre 2021-09-14 Person 2 5 0

The extent of my contact with the GP surgery today was completely remote and over the phone. My first phone call lasted 39 minutes and the majority of this time was on hold waiting to get through. Once I did the first receptionist I spoke to was very pleasant and explained there were no appointments left and I had to call back at 1.30pm when the afternoon slots were released or go online. I knew I wasn't fully registered for Patient Access and she insisted that I was on the system and all I had to do was sign on and if I had any difficulties the site had an online chat help. I hung up and after 25 minutes trying to log on to Patient Access to verify if I had an account the chap on the online chat informed me that no I was not registered with Patient Access and I needed to phone my GP surgery. I was now in despair at how much time I had already wasted but then spent a further 38 MINUTES, again mostly on hold, trying to get through to Burnham Health Centre to inform them I was given the wrong information and I would not be able to access the appointments online at 1.30pm and could I at least get a phone consultation. The second receptionist I spoke to was very pleasant and professional and informed me if I couldn't access the online appointments I would have to call back AGAIN at 1.30pm and wait in line on the phone for an appointment. It's not the receptionists fault, they are following the rules and guidelines they are meant to and they were both very nice, but it beggers belief that after 1 hour and 17min on the phone to them trying to just get an appointment for my young son, they were asking me to ring back again and spend even more time on hold because they refuse to see people at the desk in surgery as well to book appointments. Mrs Parmjit Panesar is named as the Practice Manager on their website. I hope she gets to read this and I would be interested in an explanation as to why it is so hard just to get a phone consult out of the surgery, let alone a face to face appointment, and how she expects the practises patients to lose so much time on hold to the surgery. I was lucky that a doctor happened to enter the room as I was on the phone to the receptionist and she spoke to her and she was able to fit me in for a very brief phone consult. Pandemic or no pandemic, it is completely unacceptable to make it so hard for people to access the healthcare that we all have every right to. I realise too that it is not the receptionists who are to blame and they are just trying to do their job. It must be very hard for them to deal with exasperated people all day who just want to access the health care in their community.

Completely overhaul the appointment system and allow patients to go back to regular access to their GP's. Dentists, hospital staff, opticians and the like are all just getting on with it as the government wants us all to start living with the virus. It is time that GP surgery's countrywide, including Burnham Health Centre, resume business as usual using PPE and covid safe measures like many other close contact industries.