Cavendish Health Centre

Cavendish Health Centre 2014-11-30 Person 1 5 0

The girl in the reception and on the phone was extremely rude and even hang up the phone in my ear. Can you believe that??! But when I finally got to the doctor he was much more friendly.

Cavendish Health Centre 2014-11-26 Person 4 5 0

The staff at the Cavendish Health Centre are very helpful, it is clear that they are managed in such a way that they are given appropriate levels of responsibility and when the issues is beyond their remit that they are well supported and have good access to the doctors. I find the mix of telephone consultations on the day for minor and urgent illness very helpful and have always been seen when necessary. For chronic issues I am prepared to wait for the doctor and sign up on line. I have always found that the doctors are competent and able to listen. The practice has recently seen a long term member of the doctors team move to the north of England at the same time as having to cover for the maternity leave of the head of the practice and I think that they have coped well with the disruption. The locums were efficient for locums and when they found a satisfactory one they settled them in post for a longer period enabling the doctor concerned to take more care as they were able to build a rapport with patients. The location of the practice means that they are able to resource extremely good services locally and the doctors do take advantage of this.

Cavendish Health Centre 2014-11-21 Person 4 5 0

I'm very lucky to live within walking distance of this practice. Although it is an extremely busy practice I find the reception staff pleasant and helpful. It not usually possible to see the same doctor so the old system where you saw a particular doctor is no more unless one is prepared to wait a very long time for an appointment but I find the doctors listen carefully, are always very reasonable and helpful. I recently had to have blood taken. I am a phlebotomist's nightmare. My veins makes getting blood difficult and with hospital tests I usually come out feeling like a dart board but here Nellie, the Nurse got the blood first attempt. The Practice also uses a Skype consultation which is great if you are simply checking on results or do not require an examination. It saves sitting in a waiting room catching colds from patients! I've been with this practice for almost 20 years. Not sure I want to recommend it. I dont want everyone registering there!

Cavendish Health Centre 2014-11-10 Person 2 5 0

This was once a well run, lovely surgery. Not those days! A shortage of doctors leads to a wait of sometime over 2 weeks for appointments, and therefore a lack of consistency in treatment because you'll probably get a lot of locums., or at least a different doctor every time. And in spite of the huge wait times, they continue to advertise for more NHS patients, when they can't cope with the ones they have! The one remaining nurse was unable to take a simple blood sample recently, (the nurses used to be really helpful) so I was referred to a place several miles away to get it done properly. Receptionists don't seem that bothered, and to some extent appear to have given up. Not a lot of warmth or caring there! The whole place needs a good shake-up to get it back to the really great medical facility it once was. In the meantime, if you have a choice, find somewhere else.

Cavendish Health Centre 2014-10-31 Person 2 5 0

I have not had a very good experience on my last few visits and also had 2 very disagreable conversations with a particular receptionist but it would be unfair to judge the reception team and the whole practice on these few occasions. Though I have had reason to complain before. I do not have SKYPE but it would be better to have more telephone consultations for f/ups or general requests which do not require a personal visit. Especially as I am not very physically able. I am concerned that the referrals requested on my last visit do not appear to have been actioned as I would normally have heard from the Patient Referral Service with in 4 weeks - not neccesarily with an appointment but at least to start the ball rolling! A general admin email service would be good but ovbiously not for treatment ! For example I need to contact the practice manager about the referral requests this week and an email would make this a much easier task. I have been a patient at this practice since it's inception with Dr Chase but this last year + has been very disorganised and I am gradually losing confidence in the service ! So much so, I am considering moving to another! Sorry it couldn't be more positive but this is my expereince over my last few visits!