St Andrews Surgery

Waiting more than 30mins in a phone queue, and finding econsult closed early in the day.

Also experienced lost test results & referral letter plus failed ECG needing repeat test.

Lesson in how to turn one of the most popular surgeries into one of the worst.
GP's have chosen to hide in the background and push their staff (paramedics, nurses, recptionists) onto the front line therefore avoiding any patient contact themselves.
If a patient managed to get a consultation, it's performed by some disinterested GP who's poorly prepared for the consultation (checking notes prior to consultation used to be a pre-requisite).
High staff turnover within the practice because pleasant staff leave their positions due to the unreasonable attitude within the surgery.
Responsibility for repeat prescriptions are now processed by a non professional, consequently they are managed slowly and frequently incorrect.

Had a sudden throat infection, rang 111 got penicillin from Lewes Victoria; much worse next morning, no GP available at surgery or the Vic, it needed a visual inspection, ended going to Brighton A&E where ENT admitted me. Very poor service, St Andrews has gone badly downhill since the Foundry merger.

Since becoming amalgamated with other surgeries in the area it is almost impossible to see a Dr.
Prebookable appointments are few and very far between.
continuity of care is non existent, you have to pick a day the Doctor whose looking after you, is on duty and hopefully you will get a telephone call that day or you have to wait 17 days to speak to a different doctor and explain everything from the beginning again. When you have ongoing medical problems this is very annoying

The surgery was good when I was younger, but it has since gone downhill (this is still before the pandemic). I was dealing with lots of issues with my GP when I was at university, and the doctors here didn't seem to understand the issues when my medical notes were transferred over when I moved back home. They never did any referrals for mental health specialists, and I've had endless health issues for almost 3 years that doctors never looked into. To them, if it doesn't show up in a simple blood test, it doesn't exist. Just go home and recover, even though you've been dealing with it for so long and clearly won't "recover".

In mid-July, I tripped on a step in the Isle of Wight and the concrete corner tore a 8-inch gash down the front of my left leg. It bled a lot and an ambulance took me to A and E, where the doctor said I would need plastic surgery and that, at 92, with varicose veins already cauterised,my chances of complete healing were not good. However, the A and E charge nurse who dealt with it was strong enough to push most of the edges together and hold them with steristrips. When I got back to Lewes, I told the St Andrew's practice nurse that it had been treated with honey by the local IoW surgery. She took immense trouble dressing it with honey twice a week and applying compression bandages. The result is that in three months it has completely healed: no residual ulcer, nothing but a faint scar.

you can't get through when you phone up
Receptionist tries to diagnose,if she went to medical school why is she on reception
Some who answer the phone are rude
This new merging has been very detrimental to the service

Since joining with the other surgeries in Lewes, the service has suffered. I order my prescription online to be delivered due to disability, unfortunately I have had to chase my last two repeat requests because they have not been processed!

Eye problem. To spare the service during what was supposed to be a difficult time I went to the Nuffield for a consultation. Advice received, letter written by the consultant 8th July. I called the surgery a week later and was grilled by the receptionist as to why I wanted an appointment, who had recommended it. I explained that they had received a letter a week before. But there was no knowledge of this. A phone appointment fixed with Dr, another two weeks into the future. Dr called: also knew nothing about the case, which had to be explained in detail. It was obviously a waste of my time and money going to a specialist - which was done in order to save NHS time - since the whole case had to be gone through again. I was promised an appointment with the nurse, so that tests could be carried out. After more than a week no appointment has yet been fixed.This means yet another tiresome phone call, with five minutes of enforced and out of date Covid info and a long, long wait for a response.