St Heliers Medical Practice

I was on phone for 1 hour to get an appointment this morning and in the end my line was disconnected.

Staff are very good and helpful. Even during pandemic full support was provided by the healthcare team.

Being pregnant we have been able to speak and see my GP. Very supportive and referred to the early pregnancy unit and was seen the same day.

Waited in a queuing system to make an appointment, was 2nd in the queue and then cut off, called back and then 6th in the queue.
Call answered and put through to a clinician again waxed 20 minutes to answer.
What has happened to a phone call back?

Receptionist are very good

Great redirection of call to appropriate health care service and chasing of prescriptions

Calls answered by computerised message urging use of their website. Voice eventually tells you where you are in the queue ( I've been No. 12 a few times and I hang up ( local landline calls cost up to 16p per minute!) If you do eventually get through to Reception to request a doctor's phone appointment you then get put through to the "Clinical Support Team". So instead of speaking to a doctor who is familiar with your health issues you speak to someone who is not. That's assuming that the phone is answered at all!. When I recently asked one of the doctors when they might return to pre-Pandemic service I was told "not for the foreseeable future and all appointments may remain initially as doctor phone appointments"!

Can never get to see a dr in person and can't get same dr to deal with problem - have about 5 or 6 different drs dealing with same problem

A great change since Covid but they have managed exceptionally well. Although not normally offering face to face appointments it is always possible to ring up and speak to a GP even at the beginning a timed telephone appointment with a GP of our choice. Now they have become a hub for vaccine delivery they are even busier but it is still possible to phone up and have a GP call back. Also being able to send photos of symptoms has been employed. Advances in technology but still access to sympathetic reception staff and kind and effective GP contact. Sterling work.

Very good and efficient. Only had trouble with the appointment confirmation as the text required an email confirmation - and I don't have a smart phone (my phone is really stupid)