Old Cottage Hospital Surgery

Written by a patient

Practically impossible to speak to anyone. On hold for ages and then get cut off. Requested login details to make an appointment but no one has got back to me. Walk into reception and the receptionists are sat there chatting whilst phone is ringing!!

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Written by a patient

It is practically impossible to get an appointment over the phone at Old Cottage Hospital in Epsom. In the past 5 months (winter time) I have not once been able to make an appointment at the surgery over the phone. I am pregnant and been unfortunate enough to come down with a stomach flu and really bad chest infection. I needed to speak or see a doctor about 3 times in last few months, and each time I had to take time off work to visit surgery in person to book an appointment because phones haven't been answered. At my last visit, a week before the Christmas, after a numerous unsuccessful attempts to book an appointment over the phone, I went there in person at the lunch time. To my surprise, the waiting room was empty. There was only one lady waiting. Couple of receptionists did very good job of ignoring my presence, even though I was only one queuing !! After few minutes of waiting I approached one of the receptionists and I was very rudely told to speak to her colleague who had a big sign "position closed" displayed !! So when I was finally acknowledged, I asked if their phone lines were down because I couldn't reach them all morning, I was told they're too busy to answer the phones today....I hope that elderly and mothers with young children get better care but I find receptionists at this practice extremely unhelpful and rude.

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Written by a patient

This review is written with respect to today's experience. Having been ill now for six days. Trying daily to try and get an appointment and failing I went to see the local pharmacist. The pharmacist said to see a doctor immediately!. Having spent more than 15 minutes on hold waiting to get through to the appointments line what then followed was a terribly executed service by someone who was quite indifferent about her function to facilitate a booking. The basis of the problem was that she didn't pay attention which led to constantly having to repeat myself. Talking is painful anyway and she wasn't helping. An appointment at another surgery was offered however the accuracy of the information was questionable. I needed to look at a google map to locate the other place to see if I could get there because she didn't seem to know where it was. The call further deteriorated when she asked for my personal details again causing me to repeat myself. I asked her to listen and turn up her headset and she slammed down the phone. When I called back (40 mins later after another long wait to get through again) and spoke to her supervisor apparently "SHE" was upset and deeply distressed. The supervisor proceeded to tell a story about my insulting her. Which is a complete untruth. Fortunately the call was recorded defending my position so her distortions are provably unfounded. The biggest annoyance here was not the uncaring attitude of the receptionist but her seemingly willingness to distort the facts after the event to cover up and change the completion of the situation in an attempt to try and make it my fault. It shouldn't be necessary to have endure this sort of behavior when simply booking an appointment.

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Written by a patient

I was offered eye appointment with Dr Alwis 8-9 weeks in advance. I reached 10 minutes before the scheduled time and after waiting for well over 50 minutes, I was informed that they are experiencing technical difficulties! Even then I was in wait for couple of patients ahead in the queue. I have only one question to the professionals who manage this surgery. “How would you feel if every patients start turning up 45 minutes late to the appointments?” People have real jobs and important life outside and only visit surgery unless it is absolutely essential. Respect time for others as you would wish your own time to be respected. I left the surgery after one hour of waiting as I chose to keep my professional appointment at the scheduled hour. Whilst attempt can be made to explain this is a “one-off isolated incident”, which it is not the case at all. My experience of waiting for an hour for a scheduled appointment is almost routine at this surgery. Today I am without an appointment and no consultation. If this is the NHS we pay our taxes for and medical professional rewarded for; then it is failed system and an appalling monopolistic service. I hope someone in your team reviews the performance as I would not hesitate to escalate the issues at the CPC or further if required.

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Written by a patient

Telephone not answered so rings until cuts out. If do get through then put onto musak and comments about getting appointments online, endlessly. Telephone receptionist was obviously rushed but helpful as she could be in the rush.

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