Harford Health Centre

Written by a patient

This review deals only with the surgery reception. The medical care at this surgery is neither good nor bad. Staff turnover is high: I have rarely seen the same doctor twice in 12 years, and this is bound to have an effect on the quality of medical care, but of much more serious concern is the surgery reception.This surgery is overwhelmed. Public facing personnel provide very poor service, but very effective gatekeeping. Should this be a surgery's aim? Indiscriminate filtering where only a patient's ability, leisure time and desire to persist improves their chances of care? Some receptionists can be helpful, but others have no place in a customer-facing role, with poor to non-existant communication skills. The most reliable means of communicating with the surgery is to attend in person - telephones are rarely answered and answering and queuing systems cannot cope with the volume of calls. If a call is answered (after a lengthy period on hold), one's request cannot usually be dealt with and one is requested to call back at another time - handing down a sentence for another lengthy period on hold. Online appointment booking is available, but for a very limited section of the available services: telephone consultations and emergency appointments, for instance, are not available online and not all doctors are listed. There is no email contact - understandable, but perhaps some kind of email form could be devised, asking for basic details so that an appropriate callback or response could be prioritised and contact with the patient established. For a working person, communication with this surgery is close to impossible. These days, great and creative improvements to customer enquiries and services have been devised by many businesses and the surgeries could make good use of these. Requesting a callback, for instance. A system of differentiating patients would also contribute to a better experience. Those with a new issue and those currently under continuing treatment are currently classed together as regards making appointments. The experience of making contact with this surgery is one of intense frustration and despair. The raison d'etre of the reception staff seems to be the dissuasion and demeaning of patients seeking care. I have sent an official written complaint to the Practice Manager and after one week am still awaiting a response.

Recommend

Dignity/Respect

Involvement

Information

Cleanliness

Staff