Sydenham Green Group Practice

[coll]

Hello,
Has anyone here had trouble getting in to see a Dr or Nurse Practitioner at Sydenham Green? It use to be such a great practice but in the past 3 years it seems practically impossible to get in to see anyone. I have 4 prescriptions that need to be reviewed and put on repeat. I gave up trying to get in a year ago. Whenever I call I'm '7th in the queue' or there is no answer at all. When I do actually get through I'm told that I just have to keep trying and that everyone is in the same situation. I have gone in first thing in the morning like they suggest without success.
I tried again today with the same result -- nothing! I was told by the person on the phone that I should go to a walk-in centre to see a Dr. Seriously?

[Larky]

I have had a nightmare with these in the last six months.

Was never ill enough to need a doctors appointment up to then, try to get an answer to a phone call is awful.

The way around it is to (take a day off work !!!!!) and go and queue from 7.30am, and you will more than likely get an appointment for that morning.

When you email the Practice Manager, you get ' we are understaffed, being trying to get staff for ages', which does not help at all someone who wants an appointment at all !

Good luck !

[butters]

feels like every doctors surgery in a city to be honest. once I managed to get an appointment he scheduled all of my follow ups easily so there appointments are *there* but I wonder what draconian process at reception stops them being given out. its unusual to find a doctors now who schedules appointments in advance, its either that day if you can get one or nothing at all. not convenient at all.

[syd-gal]

It used to be such a good surgery, but in the last year it is now really awful. It is madness to release all the appointments at 8am and expect people to phone for them because of course you can't get through. And if you do eventually get through, all the appointments have gone. Why can't they let patients just book any time in advance.

My last 2 appointments I booked online as they were not urgent and could only get an evening appointment for 2-3 weeks ahead. And when I went for each of those (5.30 pm) appointments, the waiting room was fairly quiet and only 1 doctor was working. I thought they used to have lots of evening appointments there.

I don't know if they have any walk-in for urgent cases.

[Holaquease]

I managed to see a locum there about a month ago. I was given a referral to St Thomas's to see a heart specialist. It was never processed. I ended up going private, which I can't afford... Its not something that could wait.

The reception staff are attentive and really do their best. I think the doctors do too, but they're hugely understaffed. The locum told me there's a serious shortage of doctors who want to work for the NHS.

It's going to get a lot worse.

[alywin]

It used to be such a good surgery, but in the last year it is now really awful. It is madness to release all the appointments at 8am and expect people to phone for them because of course you can't get through. And if you do eventually get through, all the appointments have gone. Why can't they let patients just book any time in advance.

My surgery does this, too. 20 minutes+ of redialling before I could even get through, by which time probably all the appointments are gone. I rang up a couple of months ago and asked what were the chances of getting a double appointment (you know, the ones they insist you book if you have more than one problem which needs discussing) with a given doctor, and was effectively told zero. It was only sometime later that I discovered that they release a lot of appointments a couple of days in advance - nobody told me that - which is why I hadn't been able to book anything. And I got an appointment booked basically because I had a phone consultation with one doctor and she booked me in for one of those appointments with her a day before they were technically released to the general public. Crazy.

[dickp]

Can't you book apointments online? They use the same onlone booking system as the Wells Park Practice. From memory, I think this means visiting in person once to get the paperwork and yo confirm your ID and then never having to call again for a routine appointment, nor for repeat prescriptions.

You're probably already doing battle with everyone that's using the online booking and being left with the scraps.

[chrisj1948]

The fundamental problem is that the practice is understaffed. This is not through choice, and they are not alone in this. GP practices across the country are desperately trying to recruit more staff. No booking system will compensate for having a pint in a quart pot.

Regards
Chris

[syd-gal]

Dickp....... yes you can book appointments online, but generally they are for dates 2-3 weeks ahead. If you are lucky and try during the morning, you might find you can get a slot for that afternoon, though that is quite rare.

[stuart]

The fundamental problem is that the practice is understaffed. This is not through choice, and they are not alone in this. GP practices across the country are desperately trying to recruit more staff. No booking system will compensate for having a pint in a quart pot.

They also had a particular problem with most of the original great partners were of the same generation. A generation that has now passed to Bus Pass land. This could have been foreseen but with the extreme short term government thinking. Why spend money training and incentivising when there is no payback for several years?

Now we are beginning to suffer the consequences.

Cue again panic training but held back because many of the trainers have been made redundant or have also passed into Bus Pass land.

Stuart