Ponteland Medical Group
AA
Adam A. 2 years ago • From Google
Bad
I originally left a one-star review for this medical practice six years ago, and I felt compelled to revisit it as the service quality has remained unchanged throughout this period. To be clear, my concerns do not extend to the clinical staff themselves, who are excellent. Rather, the difficulties lie with the administrative and management functions. The clinicians and nursing team are genuinely skilled, but the bureaucratic barriers one must navigate to access their care are the real problem. In straightforward terms, the administrative service provided is wholly inadequate. I have reached a point where I genuinely dread contacting the practice and actively seek to avoid doing so whenever feasible. However, my ongoing medication management requires me to contact them monthly, and these interactions are consistently problematic. There is invariably some form of complication. I frequently need to follow up on requests multiple times, only to find they were never processed. No explanation or apology has ever been offered for these failures, with staff simply stating the matter was not completed. While I could overlook an isolated incident, the repetitive nature of this pattern is entirely unacceptable. Telephoning the practice is extremely time-consuming and demanding, often requiring extended periods on hold. In my experience, waits exceeding an hour are not unusual. On one occasion, I was able to drive to the practice location while still waiting on the phone, only to find the waiting area empty with no one attending to calls. Booking an appointment presents considerable difficulty. The system operates on a first-come, first-served basis with appointments released at 08:00, which is problematic for those with non-standard working patterns such as shift workers. I have also experienced instances where an appointment was made but never entered into the system, leaving me unable to be seen when I arrived three weeks later. There have been times when I have chosen to endure my symptoms rather than attempt to contact the practice, as the process felt too burdensome. I suspect this is not an uncommon experience. I remain uncertain whether the underlying cause is poor internal coordination, operational inefficiency, or a combination of both. Currently, I have been without my medication for a month due to uncertainty within the practice regarding whether a medication review is necessary, leaving me in an unresolved situation. I recognise that errors occur and that the health service faces significant resource constraints, but the standard of administrative service falls far short of acceptable. I attempted to transfer to another practice but was informed this was not possible based on my location, leaving formal complaint as my only recourse. I hope to provide a more positive update in another six years, though I am not optimistic about this prospect.
Stephen D.