The Lakes Medical Practice
AM
Antony M. 2 years ago • From Google
Bad
Used to be excellent. The clinical staff remain skilled, but the practice itself has become overly procedural, unhelpful and appears indifferent to patient needs. Phone access is severely restricted (you must call at specific times and navigate through menu options) and only after enduring lengthy unhelpful recorded messages. The website is unreliable—it has displayed incorrect information stating the surgery is closed when it was actually open due to outdated postings. My son had been registered with them for several years. While home from university, he experienced chest discomfort and we requested an appointment. I was instructed to register him as a temporary patient and completed the necessary paperwork. The application was rejected. During my own appointment, I raised his situation with the clinician and was advised to resubmit. The request was declined again, and despite explaining his temporary status as a university student, I was told he should contact his usual GP instead. They decline to provide travel immunisations (including those available free through the NHS due to public health importance) unless you first pay approximately £20 per person for a consultation at a pharmacy of your choice—which contradicts the purpose of free provision, namely to encourage uptake. The pharmacy will not see you until you have obtained your immunisation history from the GP. The pharmacy then reviews the same publicly available information you have already checked and advises which injections are recommended (both routine and optional). You must obtain this guidance in writing before the nurse will agree to administer the "free" NHS immunisations. You must then locate a pharmacy with available pharmacist appointments (options are limited locally, and when I contacted one major chain, I learned their pharmacist had departed, leaving only Wednesday afternoon cover with a month-long waiting list). Overall, considerable inconvenience, time and expense wasted for everyone involved. I recognise that an ageing population creates rising demand, but this is not a recent issue: forward planning, rather than restricting access to care, is the appropriate solution. Where has practical thinking gone?
Paul W.