Share review of University Of Sussex Health Centre

University Of Sussex Health Centre 2015-04-09 Person 3 5 0

I like this practice, but it does have its setbacks, as most do. It's pretty easy to make an appointment, but in my experience I'm very unlikely to be offered an appointment within a couple of days. You can drop-in between 9-12 (I think this is Monday to Friday), but unless you get there before they open their doors, you need to be prepared to wait for an hour or two; I understand that this is a reflection of the over-subscription of this practice though, I'm sure they strive to operate the best they can within their means. The staff are nice - the receptionists are friendly enough and know what they're doing, and the medical staff are approachable. One particular bonus of this practice is that it's right next to a pharmacy, so if you need a prescription, you can pop in their afterwards. The only real negative issue I feel I need to mention is that I recently visited them to discuss a mental health issue, and I didn't think they were very helpful. They discussed medication with me, which turns out was appropriate for me, but the way they assessed my current mental state was a bit apathetic, and when I asked if they could refer me for counselling (which we'd discussed could be an option for me), they told me to do it myself; this isn't a problem for me as my partner was with me and has done the forms for me, but for someone experiencing depression/anxiety, you can't really rely on them to refer themselves for counselling. I'd imagine that, often enough, it has taken the individual a lot of effort to go to a GP appointment alone, never mind filling in forms for a counselling referral. I just think that their duty of care should extend to these sorts of things, particularly when a patient actually asks if they would do the referral for them.