The Whitfield Practice 2017-02-17 Person 3 5 0

I visited the practice today (17/02/17) on an emergency appointment. I did not choose to make this appointment lightly given the current strains on GP surgeries but after speaking to a friend who is a GP, another friend who is a retired consultant and a client who is a ward sister, their advice to me after describing my persistent symptoms of more than 10 days was to seek urgent advice from my GP. When I called the surgery on Monday 13/02/17 I was offered the earliest appointment available which was Friday 24/02/17 and given the option to call at 8am the next morning for any daily released appointments. I booked the appointment for the 24th and rang each day from the 13th at 8am only to find I was already number 19 in the call queue. I understand there is a huge demand for GP slots and I have no complaint about this. When my symptoms persisted I requested an emergency appointment and was told by the receptionist to turn up at 4pm. When I arrived I gave my name and date of birth and was asked to sit in the waiting area. Five minutes later I was horrified to hear the three receptionist having a discussion about how many emergency appointment patients were turning up and who had agreed to them. One receptionist said she had authorised a Mum and her 3 week old baby, another replied "there's another just turned up it's ridiculous"! the third said "what about him over there,(meaning me) he's come in all dressed up, someone should really screen them"! I fail to understand what my dress sense has to do with my symptoms or how a receptionist has the ability to know how ill I am from my outward appearance. Do I really need to attend my GP practice bent double with unwashed hair and clothes, to curry favour with such judgemental receptionists? I really think the Partners and practice manager should speak to the receptionist involved because their attitude is typical of why so many of them get a bad reputation. On a positive note my Usual GP Dr Rafique and the GP who saw me for the emergency appointment Dr Brown offer the highest standards of care and exemplify everything an excellent Doctor should be and for this reason alone I would still recommend the Whitfield practice to anyone looking for excellent GPs.