Ambrose Avenue Group Practice

Phone queue left me waiting an hour

Extremely disappointing experience. I rarely contact the practice by phone, but on this occasion I found myself waiting in the queue for over an hour and a half, remaining at position 5 throughout the entire wait. This suggests that calls were not being answered promptly or patients were not being attended to in a timely manner. Given my background in medical reception, I would not expect this standard of service in my own workplace. I found the situation unacceptable. Eventually I decided to discontinue the call and visited the practice in person to address my concern. The service requires significant improvement. I feel the practice falls well short of acceptable standards.

Long phone queue but staff member was helpful

I received a text message about a medication review just under an hour ago asking me to contact the surgery to arrange an appointment. I've been waiting on hold ever since. The surgery closes for training between 12.30 and 13.30, during which calls won't be answered. It's now 12.10 and I remain on hold, having progressed from position 17 to position 8 in the queue. It seems unlikely my call will be answered before the lines close. I would suggest that when sending text messages about medication reviews, the surgery could simply include a pre-allocated appointment time rather than requiring patients to call. The overall experience has been frustrating. I've thought about registering elsewhere, though the nearest alternative practice has similarly poor feedback, and my previous practice, which provided excellent care, is no longer accepting patients from my current location. Update: After one hour and twenty-nine minutes, I finally got through. The staff member I spoke with was extremely helpful and courteous, which I greatly appreciated.

Reception staff ignored waiting patients completely

This surgery has been extremely disappointing. My elderly mother has multiple health issues and is now too anxious to call for an appointment or attend open surgery sessions. She attended for a blood test this week that had been pre-arranged, and witnessed an elderly patient at reception who had been waiting for 2 hours despite having a scheduled appointment time. No receptionist appeared to check if this person required any help. This does not feel like adequate service provision. The appointment booking system is problematic and difficult to navigate. Even the healthcare professional who treated my mother voiced concerns about the new procedures in place. We have decided to transfer our care to another practice, as we feel the current situation is unacceptable. The stress of attending appointments here is significant enough to negatively impact anyone's wellbeing.

Hard to get appointments with ongoing health issues

If you have ongoing or serious health conditions, your best chance of securing an appointment appears to be waiting for a clinician to be unavailable, which might free up a telephone consultation slot.

Long wait on the phone queue

I contacted the practice early in the morning and found myself seventh in the queue. After nearly three hours had passed, I was still waiting and had only moved to first in the queue. During this extended period, very few calls appeared to have been answered. I was extremely frustrated with this experience and am considering changing to a different practice.

Appointment system needs urgent improvement

The situation continues to deteriorate. It is consistently difficult to secure an appointment by telephone, and the practice appears to rely on patients attending in person and waiting extended periods. The open access system is not functioning effectively for my needs. I would prefer to see a clinician without such lengthy waiting times, as the current process is comparable to attending an emergency department. I am aware that others share these frustrations, and I would urge the practice to reconsider its previous appointment arrangements.

Pharmacy delays led to wrong medication prescribed

The experience with this surgery has been quite frustrating. I was unwell and have underlying health conditions, but struggled to secure an in-person appointment and had to settle for a telephone consultation instead. Following this consultation, I was prescribed medication, however there were significant delays in the prescription being processed and sent out. Additionally, the prescription was directed to an incorrect pharmacy, which extended the overall timeframe to several days. Eventually I attended the emergency department, where I received excellent care. During this visit, I discovered that the medication I had been prescribed was not appropriate for my needs. This has left me feeling disappointed with the service received.

Surgery made accessibility needlessly difficult

This surgery falls significantly short of expectations. The staff appear difficult to work with and seem to create unnecessary obstacles for patients. Those with sensory and mobility challenges are expected to attend the practice repeatedly without good reason. Following a recent procedure, vision remained severely compromised, yet the practice provided minimal support or assistance. The overall experience speaks volumes about the standard of care provided.

Failed to call back when child needed help

I contacted the practice about my young child being unwell and was informed that someone would return my call promptly. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and my child subsequently required hospital treatment. I found this to be an extremely disappointing level of service.

Registration problems delayed my baby's vaccinations

I would give zero stars if possible, but am forced to select one. I registered my infant when she was four weeks old, and upon attempting to book an appointment when she reached six weeks, the receptionist informed me she was not on the system and directed me to accident and emergency instead. I subsequently visited the practice in person to complete registration again, and telephoned several days afterwards to arrange an appointment, only to be told once more that my infant remained unregistered. As a result of the practice's registration difficulties and reported staffing constraints, my infant missed her eight-week vaccination appointment, with all subsequent immunisations falling more than four weeks behind schedule. This week, when my infant developed a fever and required hospital assessment, the attending clinician expressed considerable concern about the vaccination delay, stating she had not encountered such a significant postponement before. The clinician explained that leaving infants without protection poses serious risks, and noted that my infant's available treatment options have been limited due to the absence of immunisation coverage.

Complaints ignored and concerns dismissed

I would rate this practice lower if possible, but am required to give a minimum of one star. In my view, this is an exceptionally poor medical practice. I have serious concerns about how my complaints and health matters have been handled, and I have felt compelled to escalate my concerns to external bodies. I believe the practice has engaged in practices that are deeply troubling, and I consider this to be among the worst experiences I have had with healthcare provision.

Phone queue kept dropping me back

I had to wait an extended period while trying to book an appointment through the phone system. My position in the queue kept changing, and after being moved back several times, I decided to abandon the attempt.

Phone queues need urgent improvement

Your telephone system needs urgent attention. I called at opening time and was number 8 in the queue. After waiting 47 minutes, my call still hadn't been answered. It took 20 minutes just to move up one position. Given that individual calls shouldn't take particularly long, it appears there are significant gaps between answering calls rather than them being handled consecutively. Additionally, the daily midday closure for staff activities lasting an hour seems excessive and impractical. The current system is not working effectively. Unwell people shouldn't have to queue from early morning in poor weather. Rather than directing patients to attend in person, the practice should improve its booking procedures. Implementing an advance booking system would make a real difference to patient access.

Phone staff weren't helpful or polite

This practice has not met my expectations. The telephone staff have been unhelpful and their manner has been discourteous. Obtaining an appointment has proven extremely difficult, despite attempting to book on multiple consecutive occasions when lines open. I have decided to register elsewhere.

Impossible to book an appointment here

I found the experience to be extremely disappointing. If ratings lower than one were possible, I would select that option. Securing an appointment is consistently difficult, with walk-in visits being the norm regardless of whether the visit is a follow-up. This approach seems to lack practical consideration. The practice appears to have regressed significantly over time, notwithstanding the modern systems in place. Even routine requests, such as obtaining a sick note, require persistent follow-up from the patient. I am uncertain about how staff members spend their time during the working day. The practice conducts regular staff training sessions, though the effectiveness of these sessions is questionable, as the outcomes do not appear to benefit patient care or responsiveness. I have observed that the surgery has available capacity during afternoon hours, yet appointments remain difficult to obtain.

Friendly reception staff made the visit pleasant

Outstanding medical practice

Staff are kind but phone queues are unbearable

I will say that the staff are all lovely. They are very hard working and trying their best. The people working there would get 5 stars all day long. But to physically speak or see someone is horrific. I've been a strong supporter of this practice for over 7 years - because of how nice the staff are. Since experiencing ongoing health concerns though spending 2 hours on hold to try to speak to someone on a regular basis is really starting to affect my opinion. The process on seeing or speaking to someone would get 0 stars - I hope someone reads this feedback and puts some processes in place. The reception staff are stretched beyond belief and the service then suffers from that. If I only had to contact them once a year, then I would happily accept the waiting on hold - but I'm having to speak to them every couple of weeks & being far back in a queue and on hold for 2 sometimes 2.5 hours while trying to do my own job for my employment is hard. Could there be a different system for patients like me who need regular contact? Rather than those with occasional temporary issues. I'm contemplating changing surgeries because of the wait times on the phone - which would be a shame because like I say the staff there are lovely.

Couldn't book an appointment for months

I have found it extremely difficult to secure an appointment at the Prettygate practice since registering there in March. Instead of being offered standard appointment slots, I have consistently been directed towards walk-in clinic services. This has left me questioning the purpose of maintaining a surgery location if routine appointments are not readily available to patients.

Receptionist refused to book any future appointments

I didn't experience any significant wait time when I called in the morning. However, I soon understood the reason for this. When I spoke with reception staff, they attempted to assess my concern before informing me that no appointments were available. They suggested I visit a walk-in centre early the next day instead. I explained this wouldn't work with my schedule and asked whether there was any possibility of booking an appointment at a later date. The response was that advance appointments could not be arranged, and I was again directed towards the walk-in centre option. If this approach is applied consistently to all callers, the short hold times become understandable. It appears the practice operates in a way that makes it difficult to secure advance appointments with a GP, which raises questions about how effectively the service meets patient needs.

Long phone queues, no appointments available

Whenever I attempted to book an appointment, I had to phone multiple times over a five-day period. On each occasion, I found myself waiting in the queue, sometimes as far back as sixth in line, yet was consistently informed that there were no available slots for that day. I found this process frustrating and struggled to understand how the appointment system operates.