SHP - Grove Surgery

The surgery has lovely staff and doctors. The phone lines are a bit of a nightmare and I try and pop into the surgery to book an appointment when I need one. The receptionists are very friendly and helpful.

The service received is excellent. Customer service from the receptionists is is very good and the doctors are fantastic.

The surgery has really improved and being able to see a doctor is great.

It is difficult to access appointments, with long call waiting times. It is very difficult or near on impossible to book an appointment in advance (not same day), or to see the same doctor you saw the last time. I was sent for an ECG at a different surgery, and never got a follow up appointment. I have not been given blood tests results either.

There are very few appointments available. It is difficult to phone for an appointment, there are often 40 people in the queue.

The practice advises that they no longer book appointments in advance, and you can only book on the day emergency appointments. So for non-emergencies you are told there are no appointments and you will not be seen. For over 10 years I was concerned about symptoms but the doctor continued to put it down to my weight. It turns out that I had an internal cyst the size of a loaf of bread and my GP ignored it due to 'fat phobia'.

The reception staff are lovely and really do their best to accommodate you when you attend the surgery in person. The doctors are wonderful, I feel that they really listen to you and take their time during appointments. I have found that you can wait a long time for your appointment, and they are often running late, but I completely accept this because once you get in the doctor still takes their time and I never feel rushed because they are running behind.

It is impossible to book an appointment using the telephone booking system. You cannot even get through it is always busy. if you attend the surgery in person it is much easier to book. The reception staff are always friendly and helpful.

Getting an appointment is extremely difficult, just getting through on the the telephone is a task in itself. If you are lucky enough to get through you then have to divulge your personal and private information to the receptionist, who they have renamed 'care navigators', and it is at their discretion whether or not your matter is urgent enough to warrant an appointment with a doctor. It drives me mad that you are expected to tell a receptionist this information. Recently I did manage to get an appointment but first I had to speak to three different receptionists/care navigators, before I got to speak to a nurse practitioner who then booked me an appointment for the next day. I just want to be able to see a doctor when I am unwell. It should not be a battle to access primary care. When we try to access an appointment for something minor and are told that its not urgent enough, do the receptionists/care navigators not consider how long it will be before your minor problem becomes serious or even life threatening. They are not medically trained professionals, and no regard is given to your previous medical history. For three weeks I was fobbed off due to having anxiety before I ended up very ill and diagnosed with cellulitis. Booking blood tests at the doctors is near on impossible and you can no longer get them done at the hospital which is a real problem.

I recently attended a cardiology appointment at the hospital. I was diagnosed and told about medication I needed to take. The hospital told me that they would write to my GP who had to prescribe the medication. I have been waiting nearly 2 weeks for the doctors to deal with the prescription request. I have called them and was told it would be at the pharmacy within 48 hours. This did not happen. It has been causing me a great deal of stress. I work and cannot sit on hold for hours at a time to try and sort the problem out. Someone attended the surgery on my behalf t to be told that the letter had not been seen by a doctor and that it would now be marked as urgent. I have been told to chase up in a couple of days and I only hope that it is sorted out now. This is just not good enough.