Springfield Surgery

I have complex care needs and health issues. What might be a simple problem that can wait for a few days for someone else, could be life threatening for me. Likewise, what could be a sign of a heart attack or stroke in someone else is routine for me, and rushing to A&E constantly would cause significant deterioration in my health, and waste NHS resources, not to mention drain my limited energy and doctors time doing unnecessary referrals for specialist testing or to my specialist team "just in case", which is what happens after most A&E visits. I also have medical trauma and I hate medical appointments, so I only go if I'm genuinely concerned. My GP treats me appropriately and doesn't panic at my complex health history or patronise me, he knows if I've made the time to come into the surgery then either I or my care team are really concerned. When I last made a request for an appointment, I suspected my symptoms were caused by extreme stress, but wanted to be checked as they had been getting worse and I had some new ones that didn't seem normal. As I have previously suffered a lot of medical gaslighting that turned out to be serious issues that were ignored, I was worried this could happen again, but they phoned me up and asked me to come in that day. My GP took the time to listen to me and make sure that he understood what was going on in my life, as well as my physical symptoms. He checked me over thoroughly and reassured me. He documented them clearly, and explained my treatment options, a likely diagnosis, prognosis and a pathway. I felt listened to and supported. While I don't like medical appointments, I do think the GP is an excellent, holistic practitioner who strives to see his patients as full human beings.

They're okay. I do have to wait ages for appointments though. I have to calls loads of times.

Very good. Appointments are easy to get and I just call them as I am bad with computers.

I have no issues in making appointments, they always see us early.

They were good and the doctor was lovely and spoke to my son rather than us. They listened to him and said they thought he had autism.

It's okay, good. They can take time with appointments but they referred my son.

My GP provided excellent support during my pregnancy.

I have extreme difficulty accessing all of these services. Because of my disability, I'm reliant on carers to take me places. I have direct payments from adult social care to employ personal care assistants, but I'm not allowed to use this to have them assist me to travel to health care appointments. I get extremely ill when I travel anywhere and it's very dangerous if I go without someone who understands my needs and knows me well. My GP refuses home visits. I put off important appointments and I've not been able to get healthcare for many issues. I've been waiting for an increase in my social care hours for several years, despite multiple care act assessments that say I need more.

You receive an acknowledgement shortly after the online request is submitted. This is followed by a telephone call from a GP. A F2F can be arranged depending on the urgency of the request, but is not always necessary.

They are very good. I had headaches, they saw me and gave me medication. They gave me an appointment quickly too.