Heathfield Surgery

Receptionists polite and helpful, was cut off rang back and apologised.
Doctors excellent, changed my life for the better.
Other staff great.

Took a little while to get through to the receptionist but that is understandable under the present conditions. Efficiently and sympathetically dealt with and booked a telephone consultation with no problem. Doctor called me when appointed and all worked well.

Hold on for 40 minutes being told where I am in queue, when get to number one from twelve, telephone call goes to ringing at other end never to be answered or cuts off! This has happened more than once. Others notified similar experiences on social media.

I had 4 telephone consultations before I could see a consultant concerning my problem. I did write to complain and did receive a reply however it did not really cover my issues. I am conscious these are difficult times but I feel the surgeries are hiding behind Covid.

Whilst the doctors themselves are generally excellent, the barriers to obtaining an acceptable level of patient care are badly undermined by incompetent Administrators and the Practice Manager.

Staff are unaware of official policies, some don't exist and others are out of date with current legislation.

The surgery routinely fails to keep update patient records when informed of changes and loses sensitive documents. When raised, complaints addressed to the Practice Manager are passed to the Administrator to respond to... unacceptable when the complaint relates to the Administrator. When requesting contact from the Practice Manager, this is ignored.

Reception have acknowledged on the phone and in recordings that the Practice Manager can often "misplace" documents hence why records aren't updated!

Overall a serious cultural change is needed and this is a view echoed by an increasing number in the community. The surgery must do better.

The GP surgery before Covid provided an very good patient centred service and I had always had a positive experience. Used the on line booking system to get to see a doctor or a nurse. Worked very well. If I had an asthma attack I could get to see a someone that day.
On lockdown in March a new telephone message was put on the heathfield surgery phone. It hasn’t been updated since. The online booking service ceases and only access was via telephone. The message makes it very clear that you have to tell the receptionist why you need to talk to the GP, but if asthma is so acute you can’t speak clearly you are in difficulty.
The wait on the phone is very long. 10th in the queue took 33 minutes to be answered but the surgery insist that there are six people answering the phone.
On another time after 45 minute wait to get down to number 1 in the queue the phone then rang and rang only to be cut off.
Once you get through the staff are very helpful and professional. The delays appears to be with the telephone access system only.

I managed to get through to my GP surgery on the second attempt at 08.45 secs this morning, only to find out my Dr was not in today, When I tried to book an appointment for another day, I was told you can not book in advance anymore! So I have to ring in each day at 08.00 hours until I get an appointment, along with countless other patients. I asked about booking on line as I work full time, but you have to register in person with the practice first! Although I did not manage to get an appointment, I have to say, the receptionist was very pleasant and sympathetic which did help alleviate some of my frustrations