St Andrews Medical Practice

St Andrews Medical Practice 2016-05-27 Person 2 5 0

I recently moved the area and needed to register with the practice. The website states that to avoid busy periods, patients should come in to register between either 11.00 am -12.30 pm or 5.00pm - 6.00pm. I work full-time and quite far from the surgery - I am therefore unable to get there within the allocated registration times without taking time off work. I was hopeful that surgery staff might understand this so I popped in one morning at 9.30am to ask if someone would accept my completed registration forms. I was told no, repeatedly, despite the fact that the waiting area was completely empty at this point. No attention was paid to the fact that I couldn’t get to the surgery during registration hours – this was clearly seen as my problem to sort out. While I understand that it’s important to make sure that reception staff have time to attend to patients, phone calls etc, surely there should be a little leeway for patients who are in full-time work and need to register? I am fully prepared to take time off work for medical appointments but to expect people to do this just so that they can hand in some forms seems a bit excessive.

St Andrews Medical Practice 2016-05-10 Person 4 5 0

This Practice is so good that it creates a problem getting an appontment as it serves too many patients for the number of doctor hours available. Perhaps it should stop recruiting new patients so that the number on the list will gradually reduce as people move away or otherwise pass on.

St Andrews Medical Practice 2016-03-17 Person 1 5 0

This week I tried to get an appointment for my 7 year old son who'd had a temperature of 39 for 3 days. Despite ringing 83 times (I have the screen grab to prove it) since just before the switchboard opened at 8.30, by the time I finally got through at 8.45 all appointments had gone. I had to take my son to a walk-in and wait 2 hours with him curled up on my lap in his pyjamas. I think it is pretty appalling when you can't get an appt for a child with a temperature like that. We hardly ever need an appt and have never missed one. I understand this is not the receptionists fault but it is just not acceptable. I think a serious review of the situation/policy on how to prioritise patient appointments needs to be undertaken. I am sure the same people get seen time and again for very minor ailments that a pharmacist could help with. Sick children should always get priority in my opinion.

St Andrews Medical Practice 2016-02-24 Person 3 5 0

Waiting up to 3 weeks for a routine appointment is disgraceful and this is not improving despite promises. Because of the number of part time and temporary Doctors there is no continuity of care - something I think a GP should provide. It is not a surprise that patients go to A & E rather than waiting to see a Doctor in the Practice

St Andrews Medical Practice 2015-12-31 Person 3 5 0

I've only had a good experience with one of the Dr's there. Unfortunately to save costs referring patients to specialists, I had to suffer with a painful eye for months with a completely incorrect diagnosis and boxes of useless drugs. Luckily Moorfields have an emergency department and it turned out to be a very easily treated problem! My suggestion would be to refer your patient to a specialist who is actually able to examine and diagnose, before you pump your patients with drugs for the sake of finances.