Reviews
After being asked to call the surgery by my gp I rang and was told to call the following week at 8am when my gp would be present, I started calling at 8am as instructed , it was permanently engaged due 20 mins then I was placed 29 in a queue , 45 mins later I get connected and I’m told that all telephone appointments are taken and there are no bookings available for the next few weeks ! And try again tomorrow
My boy son who is a recently arrived student needs an appointment. His phone is not working so he walked to the practice after lectures to seek to book an appointment. He was not able to do this as you need to call at 8am for any/all non urgent appointments. The staff did not care about his circumstances one iota. It was a disgraceful lack of concern for patient wellbeing and a mindless adherence to bureaucratic rules. Frankly I'm appalled by the callous approach. He's coming home so he can see a GP as I can't work out why his phone isn't working and the GPs clearly don't are about young people's wellbeing at all. I'm livid.
I'd like to give credit to this medical centre as all of the staff are understanding & Always doing the best to help .
Went to my appointment today 05/05/2022 to have bloods taken, weight, and blood pressure etc as per my appointment made the week before for my yearly check up after a organ donation a number of years ago.
The receptionist directed me upstairs to have my bloods the nurse was lovely and welcoming, once this was done i returned to the receptionist to say i was now ready to see the nurse to have my weight and blood pressure done.
While waiting to speak to the receptionist she was dealing with another patient at the window he was asking some basic questions, but her attitude and the response was generally short and unsympathetic, once she had finished with that patient, i explained i needed to see the nurse for the above tests but she told me i needed an appointment, before i could say anything she asked me to wait because another patient had come to the window this time an elderly lady who was making enquieries about her medication i belive, again the receptionist was abrupt and short in manners while speaking to the patient, when she returned to me she said there was no appointment for me with the nurse, and i said well i had made one for 05/05/2022 for the same time as my bloods, during this conversation she spoke to me as if i was from another planet or something with a condisending tone and generally unhelpful attitude, and this seems to be a continuation of the service she was providing for the day.
Unfortunatley i did not see the nurse but was directed to the self help room to do my blood pressure and weight which was fine, but her overall attitude with other patients and myself was rude and unessary almost as though we were just an inconvenience to her day.
Personally i very rarley have to visit the surgery but the patients that regularly have to have contact i feel extremily sorry for them if this is attitude of your front line staff/first contact.
Maybe the health care proffesion is not for her.
Ps my appologies i did not get the receptionist name.
Every time we've eventually been able to see someone it's always been a good service but the process of getting an appointment is horrendous. You have to call at 8am, then listen to a long message and then are asked to dial '1' to speak with someone. Then you get the engaged tone. Every time. And again, and again. Why not place people in a queue? I bet when people eventually get through, they're so frustrated, the staff probably get a mouthful. The system does not work. PLEASE change it.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. The practice telephone system does have a queue system but when this is full then the engaged tone is received. Due to chronic staff shortages over the past few weeks the wait to get through on the telephone has sadly increased, which results in more engaged tones. The practice does plan to review the appointment system shortly.
Resources
Short link to review Llandaff North Medical Centre: http://iwgc.net/ecgqv