The Junction Surgery
2 years ago KW
Kris W. 2 years ago • From Google
Bad
Have to submit one star since the system requires it After spending 2.5 hours on the phone attempting to schedule a follow-up appointment for our child, we were disconnected while next in line. Consequently, we had to visit in person, only to be informed of a 4-week waiting period - completely unacceptable. We finally secured an appointment for our daughter, arriving at the surgery by 8am, only to be redirected to another location in Alkirington. The situation became even more absurd. Upon arrival, we were told to expect a 30-minute wait due to an earlier emergency (our 4:20pm appointment is now past 6:15pm, and we're still waiting). Why haven't the reception staff demonstrated the basic courtesy of communicating these delays? It's inconceivable that patients would be tolerated if they arrived two hours late for an appointment! We will definitely be changing medical practices after this complete mismanagement. Frankly, children could organize this more professionally than the supposed "experts" at reception! From examining previous reviews, it's clear this isn't an isolated incident, and despite promises made to another reviewer two months ago, their booking system remains fundamentally broken.
Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry that you have had this experience trying to book an appointment. I am unsure what exactly happened when you have tried to get through via telephone. On the whole the new system is working well, with patients giving positive feedback directly to reception and clinicians. With that said, no system is perfect and there are always glitches. Occasionally users lose signal which may cause the line to be cut off, or likewise cables can come lose and potentially cause a call to drop. I do not know what has happened on this occasion, but we can look into this further if you log this directly with us providing name and dialling number etc. Regarding your experience actually trying to book an appointment, I'd like to look into this further, but will need details so we can investigate on our clinical system. Reception should always endeavour to ensure any minors are either seen by an appropriate service or triaged by a GP. Regarding the experience on the day, I will pass on this feedback to the reception and we will discuss options for notifying patients when a GP is running late. Although you are correct, we would be unlikely to see a patient that turned up 2 hours late, we would wouldn't strike a patient from the list for this. That is reserved for very specific instances such as threats of violence etc. Once again I am sorry that you have had this experience and that you feel you must move surgeries. We want our surgery to provide the best possible care and service to patients and are trying to improve. If you write to us with your details/your child's details we will investigate the system and try to establish what has happened on our side. Kind regards James (Practice Manager)
Christine H.