Bellevue Medical Group Practice

My mother had lung cancer she received the all clear after treatment. In 2016 she was taken to A&E with bad cough and given antibiotics. She was also x-rayed. The result went straight to her GP. There were concerns and my mum should have been invited for a thorough investigation, however the doctor never informed my mother or any other family members. One year later in 2017 she was again with same symptoms and she was then diagnosed with lung cancer. She had to have very strong radiotherapy, which was very difficult. She then sadly passed away a few months later. We as family felt there were lots of mistakes by the GP. Firstly they never contacted her for a crucial follow up appointment after the x-ray had flagged up issues. The doctor sent an apology letter for my mum when she was still alive, however we felt it wasn’t enough. They just blamed a computer glitch. We also had issues getting the death certificate they had marked her dearth place as hospital even though she died at home. They also called me to ask the time of death and asked me “what should I put in this certificate”. The biggest issue for us as a family is to try to accept that we can’t change anything. Had we known earlier my mum might still be alive. She might have avoided the harsh radiotherapy and as a family we would have had a chance to know earlier and spend real quality time together.

I've been dealing with a number of different health issues for about 2 years now and feel there has been lack of insight and communications by the GPs at this surgery i feel as if their always in a hurry to get me out. GPs are always unavailable or off sick which is inconvenient to patients as we can not get the correct medication or treatment as and when required. They've lost 3rd party information with my personal details and was recently on the phone for two whole days just trying to get through to them to book an appointment only to be told i couldn't book an appointment in advance and that there was only same day appointments and as for a home visit you can forget that as they claim there isn't enough staff to leave the surgery.

I phoned a number of times to make an appointment, between 2:30pm and 4:00pm; I was on hold for over 20 minutes before being cut off!! I tried again, and the same thing has happened repeatedly. I have been a patient here for nearly 20 years and am shocked at how bad the service now is; this is not a reflection on the GPs, as the ones I have been treated by have been on the whole, very professional, but the management is so poor; it is unacceptable. I wonder whether they have a policy of not answering the phone to make it harder for patients to access the help they need. Deplorable standards! I'm still on hold...now for nearly 10 minutes

Rude reception staff who discuss patients openly infront of staff and patients and ignore phone calls ( witnessed personally ) nearly impossible to get appointment , doctors don't bother reading notes ( found 1 decent doctor but only there twice a week . Most doctors there just fob you off and don't even investigate . I have family members who were terminally ill while under this practice and couldn't even get his medication so was in serious pain for a week before he passed . He was also going to this practice for over 12 months complaining of being unable to eat, go toilet and severe pain which would curl him over, told was indigestion go home take gaviscon, got to point he was sicking up poo so went hospital to be told got cancer an gone too far, passed away a month on.

Bellevue Medical Centre doesn't answer calls or fax. Mother was put on antibiotics, but can't swallow, she was sent tablets! Took 5 days to get medication in liquid form; during this 5 days she needed to suck paracetamol. Speech and language therapist was involved, so her care needs are known. She has special thickener in meals and fortified liquid drinks.
Mother is vulnerable, we waited from September to early December and nurse came at lunchtime to give her a flu jab. During this time 'care support' had tried to get this injection done - but no response from Bellevue. In the end the care support said they would report Bellevue to the CQC if they didn't do this. Daughter mainly took her to the surgery.

So disillusioned with the system. As we get older we are less and less important. Daughter gave up work to look after parents. Never relied on any financial support. Now feels bitter towards the system.

Privacy not respected - the receptionist will ask what your going to see the doctor for

I have been attending this surgery for many years and do not visit the doctors very often. I have recently needed to make an appointment to see my GP but there were no appointments available. I was told to make an appointment via the internet the night before. However, I am not an internet user so was told to phone at 8 in the morning and then it took me 20 minutes to get through and by that time there were no appointments left. I was told that half of the appointments go via the internet and to go down to the surgery at 7.45 in the morning to queue for an appointment which was not guaranteed. I went to A&E at the QE as I was in a lot of pain and they found that I had a couple of fractures. Following my visit to A&E I tried again to get an appointment at the GP and was told that the doctor would ring me back, luckily they rang back to say that there was a cancellation that afternoon. I was sent for a scan and told to make another appointment and the doctor did ring me back. I am unhappy that it was so difficult to get an appointment.
The surgery now has a patients forum and I understand that they are changing the system but I don’t know what that will involve.
Also I understand that medication should be reviewed every 12 months and mine hasn’t been reviewed for the last 2 years. I have been on the same medication for a substantial period of time.