Glenfield Surgery 2017-12-27 Person 1 5 0

It used to be possible to get an appointment. The practice was there to help unwell people to get better, to allow poorly people to see doctors who could help with worrying symptoms. Now, it's all about allowing paperwork to be processed, as patients seem to be treated as a nuisance - they turn up asking to make appointments to see doctors!! Christmas appointments are only available on the day. By that, they mean "Must be booked by 8.30am". The surgery opens its doors AT 8.30am which necessitates a queue of elderly or unwell people waiting in the cold and rain to stand a chance of getting one of the few available appointments. Those who are unlucky enough to be at the end of this queue or unaware of this new, "improved" service are told to come back at 2pm when there may be a nurse practitioner who could see them, or maybe make an appointment (soonest one is a week away) with a doctor. So. The back office staff are cosy and warm processing their paperwork, unencumbered by annoying, unwell, worried patients who are turned away from what passes for care in the village of Glenfield, back out into the winter weather, only to be forced to return to run the gauntlet of The Receptionist yet again. Will there be an available appointment tomorrow? Probably not. This is a "service" put into place for the convenience of office staff, not for the assistance or even benefit of the patients. These office workers and receptionists need to understand that the vast majority of people attending their doctor are doing it because there is a health problem, they are worried about something and NEED to see someone who can help them, not because they want to take up the tome of a receptionist. The unsympathetic, disinterested stare offered by counter staff as a response to a plea to see a doctor goes no way at all to instilling confidence in the system, but a long way to making sure that the queue for appointments reduces. Poorly people of Glenfield, stay away. Put up with your illnesses and symptoms. Hopefully they are not a warning of something sinister, but you can always make a future appointment (earliest one a week away) if you are really worried. Oh yes, there is a new procedure - you will be expected to explain your reasons for wanting an appointment with the receptionist, at the counter, in front of other poorly people. In public. Personally, I dread going to the doctor there, the procedures are awful, I have waited over half an hour for a booked appointment before. The doctor wasn't even in his consulting room, so I waited for over half an hour outside an empty room. He was at a meeting, in the practice building. Patients are truly an encumbrance. One patient who did complain over practice procedures was removed from the patient list. I hope that he has found a practice which welcomes patients and understands that they are people who need to be helped and not an unwelcome distraction from NHS imposed paperwork.