Beversbrook Medical Centre

Beversbrook Medical Centre 2023-02-06 Person 0 5 0

Why is it so hard to get an appointment these days? Well over a month ago we were told Doctorlink was closing down (the day before it did!!!) and whilst it was no substitute for actually talking to someone I managed to get a call back appointment in a timely fashion after jumping through it's hoops. Now we have a system called PATCHS which appears to not actually be up and running over a month later. Same day urgent care garners a screen stating there are no appointments available. SystmOnline has not allowed booking appointments for years. You push all these on line methods of getting appointments but none of them work. Also the website is a mess, with out of date links (do we really need to know your Christmas opening hours? ... it's February!), and a very poor design and layout. I suggest you sack your website developments team and employ more people to answer the phones and actually deal with peoples queries. When we registered with Beversbrook seven years ago, we were really impressed with the level of service, it really was outstanding. It has gone down hill so much since merging with Patford house it is unrecognisable.

What could you do better? Almost everything unfortunately.

Beversbrook Medical Centre 2023-01-23 Person 0 5 0

Thought I would use the website and online services before trying to get a doctors appointment. SystmOnline, Patchs, Airmid - total confusion, there are no clear instructions as to what each one does! Apart from the need to contact the surgery to register. Then tried the contact us drop down menu - waste of time. Then tried the how can we help today icon - waste of time. Absolutely appalling website, that is totally out of date and irrelevant for patients.

Redesign your website and make it patient focussed

Beversbrook Medical Centre 2023-01-20 Person 0 5 0

Came in to get a meds review and was told I would have to wait a month.

Everything from attitude of receptionist who spend all their time chatting (date 20th Jan) and optimisation of service.

Beversbrook Medical Centre 2023-01-04 Person 1 5 0

I telephoned the surgery one day to try and book an appointment. I got sent away to go online the next day at 8am and fill something in to get a same day phone call. When I went online to do this, I got a message saying there were no appointments and I should ring the practice. So a day later, I am back to square one. When I rang I did eventually get through to a receptionist and was offered an appointment with a practice nurse but will have to wait 5 days for this. Without wishing to be rude to practice nurses, who I am sure do a great job, I asked why people cannot see doctors any more and if they are not seeing us patients, where are they? I was told they were busy with Scarlet Fever and Strep A cases. I pointed out that we have not been able to see doctors since long before these outbreaks happened. The receptionist said she could raise this and get someone to ring me. I asked if it would be likely to be much later than the date of the practice nurse appointment and was told yes probably. So I felt I had to accept an appointment with a prcatice nurse. As I am asked for my review, I would say that while I am sure the receptionist and the practice nurse are doing the best they can, the service we are getting from Patford House rubbish. It is a Doctors' Surgery where you cannot see a doctor. This is not really good enough. But my impression is that I will leave this review and nothing will change. I feel that the practice is saying, 'You can only have this, take it or leave it', and that really they are hoping we'll just put up with it forever or give up and go away.

I feel that I should have been offered an appointment with a doctor. This seems lik stating the obvious really and should not be a thing that could have been done better. It seems like the minimum I should have been offered.

Beversbrook Medical Centre 2023-01-03 Person 5 5 0

Together with my family, I have been taking care of my mother's complex health condition at a very critical time during strikes and A&E surges. We have even had to call ambulances on multiple occasions. That is before we discovered the expert help of the practice manager Julie Taylor and the various doctors (Dr Church, Dr Astin and Dr Brizell who have all been involved) at Patford House/Beversbrook Surgery. Without them, I dread to think what the outcome might have been. I have updated the team with emailed images of oedema, shared worrying oximeter stats, sent requests for urgent medicines and the rest. Julie's response has been fantastic. I have been overwhelmed by not just the support, but the kindness our family has been shown. I am a firm believer in keeping doctors updated with information in a concise and easy-to-read manner, that way they are aware of facts and a bit of history and are better able to make clinical judgements and to help. Too often doctors and surgeries are criticised and to my mind this just isn't fair. Help them to help you! Calne is also very fortunate in having the amazing Northlands Chemist who keep long opening hours. The staff there are excellent.

Encourage older people to keep you updated about their problems rather than suffer in silence until they hit crisis point. Communication is key. I would, however, level this comment at the NHS as a whole.