Hassengate Medical Centre

Dr. O'Doherty provided much needed support through a difficult time at work resulting in my issues being taken seriously by my employers. Many thanks.

I am an asthmatic and a couple of times a year it flares up usually when I’m run down. Most times this ends up in a trip to a&e as it happens during the weekends or evenings. One episode I managed to get an appointment early one morning with Dr Murphy. I told him I felt generally unwell and my chest felt wheezy and my pumps weren’t touching it. After checking all my obs he basically declared there was nothing wrong with me. BUT as an asthmatic the one thing he didn’t do was check my peak flow breath reading. He sent me away. 4.30pm that day I had to make a trip to a&e where I remained until 2am as my oxygen levels had dropped so low I was hooked up to a nebuliser for 5 hours. Luckily they recovered just about enough for them to release me but I was borderline being admitted. I compare this to the next visit I had for the same thing a few months later. I saw a locum doctor who couldn’t have been more observant and caring. Within 10 minutes I was in the treatment room hooked up to a nebuliser for 30 minutes. I had no idea the surgery had one and he said I can request to use this in future. It did the trick and I was off to work that morning and I wasn’t bothered by my symptoms at all afterwards. Why aren’t the regular gps so forthcoming with this information?? A simple thing as using their in house nebuliser stopped me from having to go to a&e! I know my own body and have been a sufferer for 12 years now I know when something isn’t right and it’s going to escalate! I was not impressed after my visit to dr Murphy and I have not seen him since I have requested other drs.

Dr Murphy ignored best practice and changed my epilepsy medication without consultation. I only realised when I collected my prescription and found a mixture of generic brands (my condition calls for a consistent supply of the same brand). The prescription desk informed the doctor I wanted my original medication and, instead of offering even a telephone consultation to discuss with me, he sent a letter to the epilepsy nurse for further advice. Nobody told me he had done this, and nobody at the surgery provided me with the correct details to contact the epilepsy nurse so that I could chase the query, and I had to phone around to find the right contact. When the epilepsy nurse did contact me, she was shocked by his decision, as it went against the guidelines set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. To the surgery's credit, the prescription desk were very helpful, and the practice manager allowed me to remain on my original brand whilst awaiting the advice of the epilepsy nurse. However, I was incredibly frustrated by the entire fiasco, and the lack of opportunity given to discuss my own health. Decisions about what drugs to put in my body were completely taken out of my hands. I was not impressed at all.

Unimpressed! when my daughter put in a repeat prescription when to pharmacy four days later and no pres ription been sent through. Went back to surgery and was told... oh you need a review. Nobody told her so then she had to wait a whole week for the earliest appointment thus making her miss her tablets for three days. If a prescription hasn’t been filled due to a review why aren’t people told at earliest opportunity knowing that appointments can take a week or so to see doctor?

Woke up earlier in the week with an infected ear. Went to see the pharmacy and was told I needed to see a doctor. Approached Cheryl on reception and explained I needed to see a doctor or prescribing nurse. Initially told there was no appointments but Cheryl called to ask if she could release a triage appt with Julie, the nurse. This was agreed and I was sitting in front of her within 5 minutes. It was decided to leave the infection for a day or two to see how it progressed but to call in again Today if no improvement. It was not getting better so I called at 8am this morning. Ok I was 10 I the queue but I had expected that. I got an appointment to see Julie again at 12.30 and she gave me antibiotic cream to hopefully clear up the infection. Very impressed especially with Cheryl and the reception staff - I know they must get a rough ride from patients being on the frontline but no complaints from me, just praise.