SHP - Grove Surgery

Getting an appointment is extremely difficult, just getting through on the the telephone is a task in itself. If you are lucky enough to get through you then have to divulge your personal and private information to the receptionist, who they have renamed 'care navigators', and it is at their discretion whether or not your matter is urgent enough to warrant an appointment with a doctor. It drives me mad that you are expected to tell a receptionist this information. Recently I did manage to get an appointment but first I had to speak to three different receptionists/care navigators, before I got to speak to a nurse practitioner who then booked me an appointment for the next day. I just want to be able to see a doctor when I am unwell. It should not be a battle to access primary care. When we try to access an appointment for something minor and are told that its not urgent enough, do the receptionists/care navigators not consider how long it will be before your minor problem becomes serious or even life threatening. They are not medically trained professionals, and no regard is given to your previous medical history. For three weeks I was fobbed off due to having anxiety before I ended up very ill and diagnosed with cellulitis. Booking blood tests at the doctors is near on impossible and you can no longer get them done at the hospital which is a real problem.

I recently attended a cardiology appointment at the hospital. I was diagnosed and told about medication I needed to take. The hospital told me that they would write to my GP who had to prescribe the medication. I have been waiting nearly 2 weeks for the doctors to deal with the prescription request. I have called them and was told it would be at the pharmacy within 48 hours. This did not happen. It has been causing me a great deal of stress. I work and cannot sit on hold for hours at a time to try and sort the problem out. Someone attended the surgery on my behalf t to be told that the letter had not been seen by a doctor and that it would now be marked as urgent. I have been told to chase up in a couple of days and I only hope that it is sorted out now. This is just not good enough.

I have no difficulty getting an appointment. The reception staff are good. The doctors are brilliant.

I’m a patient at Grove and pop in regularly as I’ve quite a few health issues. Amanda and Trish are just fantastic at getting the job done, nothing ever a problem. Very satisfied.

Services here are thinly stretched. It's difficult to book an appointment and since joining the SHP Partnership they try and send you to other surgery's despite living in close proximity to this practice.

At times it can be difficult to book appointments. The staff here are very good and so helpful they really try their best to fit you in.

I am a heart patient the service provided by the surgery has been very good in terms of managing my medication. They are reviewed regularly and I have no problems getting repeat prescriptions. At times it can be difficult to see a GP and manage the online app. A problem that I have come across is difficulty in cancelling or re-scheduling appointments. To cancel you need to phone in and the phone lines are so busy it can be impossible at times. This can be that you go down as 'did not attend', despite making several attempts to make contact with the surgery.

If you attend the surgery the service is excellent. The reception staff are lovely and so helpful, they really do their best to help. Phoning the surgery is not as good as it is difficult to get through and harder to get an appointment. The doctors here are great too.

Registering with this practice has been very difficult. The admin process is very slow due to having to contact your previous surgery and waiting for them to update their records which seems very complicated. This admin process needs updating. Whilst this has been frustrating the GPs and reception/admin staff have been very good.

The surgery offers a great service once you get in. Booking the appointments is the stumbling block. I do find that if you pop into the surgery the receptionists will do their best to accommodate your needs but the phone lines are a nightmare.