Bowling Highfield Medical Practice
3 years ago JM
Jackie M. 3 years ago • From Google
Bad
I was extremely disappointed with the service received. When I contacted the practice in the early afternoon after my daughter had unsuccessfully attempted to secure an appointment over the previous two days, I was informed that no slots were available. My daughter had already called on two separate mornings to request an appointment for my young grandchild, who was displaying concerning symptoms including elevated temperature, lethargy, altered sleep patterns, and changes in nappy output. She had communicated these details to the receptionist both times, only to be told to ring back in the morning as appointments were fully booked. When I made my own call to advocate for my daughter, I was given the same response. I pressed further, asking whether the child could be added to the emergency duty doctor list, but was told this was not possible as the doctors had requested no additional patients be added due to capacity constraints. I emphasised that this appeared to be a medical emergency requiring urgent clinical assessment or at minimum a telephone consultation with the child's mother. I requested to speak with a manager, but was informed nobody was available. I was instead advised to contact 111 or attend accident and emergency. I expressed my concern about expecting a seriously unwell infant to wait extended periods in a hospital environment. The receptionist confirmed there were no appointments available and reiterated the doctor's position on the patient list. I mentioned my own experience working in healthcare administration, noting that in my workplace, we would never refuse to escalate a potentially serious case involving a young child. I was told this was simply not how the practice operated. My daughter subsequently called 111. After asking minimal questions, they arranged for an ambulance to be dispatched, arriving within minutes and transporting my grandchild to hospital with emergency lights activated. This level of urgency suggests the situation could potentially have been managed differently had our initial concerns been taken seriously and the child been added to the doctor's list when my daughter first called.
We are sorry about your experience and hope she is well now. We agree this situation is far from ideal. We have recently had days where the demand on the service has been unsafely high. The Doctors are generally working 11 hour days without a break. We offer significantly more appointments than we have ever previously donThere have been days when we have had to say people will need to ring 111/use A&E because we simply cannot accept an unlimited number of emergency calls- it is not safe if we are not going to be able to reply in a reasonable time. This is typical of other practices as well. The Strep A outbreak, lowered immunity due to the pandemic, patient demand and complexity has swamped all practices. This is really frustrating for the staff working within the NHS. The 111 service can triage calls ( they book into GP slots at the surgery too) and arrange additional support.
Sandy L.