Gorton Medical Centre
A
Anonymouse 5 months ago
Average
I have a litany of issues going back to just about every time anyone in my family has had to visit this clinic, but the worst was in October, when my husband was discharged from hospital with no after-care, advice, or supplies to deal with a post-surgical open wound which was still bleeding heavily. We could not get a community nurse appointment anywhere until a week after discharge, and the local pharmacies don't sell the kind of dressings we needed (although as a diabetic with a medical exemption, he should have received them free on prescription). When I went to the clinic to ask for some, I was told that it wasn't their problem and to go back to A&E! When I pressed for more help, actually driven to tears because I was so desperate, the receptionist told me dismissively that "we're all in the same boat"!!! I'm already filing a complaint with the hospital for lack of after-care. We had to stuff the wound as best we could with household supplies while we waited for dressings to come which we ordered off the internet. After this, we had only one appointment with the community nurse, who checked the wound, then signed us off for care at home, even though nobody had checked whether I was competent to look after my husband or had even managed to obtain dressings. Following this experience, he has had to keep a very close eye on his medication, as the clinic kept getting it wrong, and has not received any follow-up appointments despite severe diabetes and blood pressure. Past issues include the impossibility of getting through to reception by phone; the online appointments system doesn't work; prescriptions being sent repeatedly to the wrong pharmacy; being prescribed the wrong kind of asthma inhaler; mislaid records; a referral form being filled out incorrectly so that I went for a chest x-ray at MRI and was sent away; and (this is more the fault of the NHS in general but just adds to the feeling of being failed at every turn) being told that they will not help my child with foot pronation problems until irreversible, crippling damage has set in, so we will have to visit a private (and therefore expensive) chiropodist. I was also offered a place on some kind of patient information panel, which I repeatedly requested, but got no further invitations. Overall, although I don't have any complaints about the point-of-contact treatment from the doctors and nurses themselves (though there is no consistency in who you get, so none of them can get to know patients), I am thoroughly frustrated and disappointed with the way this practice is run, which means things keep going wrong and I have to wonder how many other patients, including the elderly and vulnerable, are not receiving care. I feel driven to write all this because I don't see any other way to informing the practice of its shortcomings, and it's time someone did something about them.
Alice V.