West End Surgery

"I have been a West End GP Practice Patient for around 10 years. The Service was excellent at first. Sadly it has gon badly down hill over those years. Getting a face to face appointment with a GP is now incredibly difficult, with the poorly designed i-consult system used as the main tool for us to communicate our symptoms, with no way of attaching photos to assist with diagnosis! If you're lucky, you may get a telephone consultation weeks after your initial contact, or told to call 111! This is a very poor way to treat patients. We feel like the whole approach is to stop us from being seen! The Patient comes last!"

"Absolutely horrendous reception staff, No understanding to mental health, Not sensitive regarding sensitive matters, made the call more like a argument rather then try and solve the matter. (Just book an appointment with doctor ) They really dont seem to care and was trying to pass the buck and send a clearly vulnerable desperate patient to A&E then allow to see their own doctor. Passed on to senior receptionist that was even more unhelpful. Still no appointment was given. These are the first people to deal with such a sensitive case and they definitely didnt care about the patient. Absolutely shocked with the tone in their voice and disregard in this matter. I will be putting it all in writing making a formal complaint. I can understand why people don’t get the help they need if the receptionist cant even treat you with a heart. Awful !! They should be ashamed."

"Love this surgery and GPs. Always very responsive. Personally, I much prefer using the eConsult system, you can complete this when its best for you when working rather than sitting on the phone in the morning to try and get an appointment that's not always necessary. The eConsults are replied to within a day or so with with next steps, an appointment or prescription. Much more efficient use of my and the surgery's time."

"I had to contact my doctor's recently which is a rare occurrence for me. I spoke to the receptionist who took details and passed them to my doctor. That evening I had a telephone call from the doctor and a prescription was forwarded to my pharmacy of choice. Exceptional service from West end surgery again and soo glad I am registered with them. Thank you all there for looking after us, very grateful."

"I have never had a bad experience at this surgery - the Doctors and Nurses have always been fabulous(despite the 10 minutes allocation time) and I cannot fault them. Dr Rodriguez, Dr Smallwood, etc and Nurses - all of them, I have never had a bad experience. And my opinion on that has not changed. The reception team has always, always been so friendly in the past and so very helpful. This has now changed. I get the frustration of Covid and I understand things might never be the same again in terms of processes, and I don't have a problem with that - we all need to adapt, however some of the receptionists (I think it is only one or two tbh) have an awful, awful manner. I had surgery a few months ago that left me immobile and in excruciating pain due to nerve damage. My first few prescriptions was done smoothly over the phone but when I called to reorder, the receptionist who answered, said that I had to come in and write it on a piece of paper as they need a paper trail. I understand that reasoning(though all meds are on a patient's record thus a trail ) but aren't there any accommodations for people like myself? I cannot drive at the moment and movement is difficult for me! The receptionist said NO - I need to come in, she cannot help. Though the prescription was taken over the phone before I explained to her - she said " we need a paper trail" nothing more, nothing less. Anyhow, I found myself her at 6:15pm on Monday 31st and wrote the prescription as requested. I asked the receptionist(same one on the phone I think) if it could please be sent for signing as urgent as my pain meds ran out and I needed some urgently. She said no - flat out no- and said that it will take 3 days to be signed. No compassion at all. I put "urgent" on the slip of paper and thankfully someone was kind enough to put it through and it was ready on Wednesday night. I don't know - do they think people lie? Maybe some ppl do, but surely one can discern when this is happening? For genuine concerns, there should be some sort of compassion. I sometimes get a really lovely receptionist - so, so understanding and I never feel like she is rushing me or being sarcastic. I will take her name the next time. For serious conditions, it is impossible to get an appointment and all I am told is go online and do an econsult - which invariable sends me to 111 who then sends me back to my surgery, who then points me back in the direction of 111 and the process repeats itself and then I just forget it. What a disappointing, disappointing service now. It is the most difficult thing to get an appointment now. Does anyone understand a patient's fear? I am no hypo and I hardly ever use the surgery services, but I had a procedure done and things are happening that have me worried and all I want is someone to see me to check! I get the Dr and nurses are busy and they do an amazing job always, however some of the front desk staff are letting them and the surgery down."