I had to go to them last week as I thought I had kidney stones. I called and spoke to them over the phone and they invited me in. They then said they would refer me on for a CT scan.
I tend to always get go appointments. Referred to hospital when needed. However on several occasions I have been given an hospital appointment and when I have called to set up appointment they have not sent the correct paperwork to hospital to enable them to give me an appointment for essential scans as I am a former cancer patient.
We can get appointments in good time. They are really good and the treatment is good. Very friendly the way they talk to you. Very nice.
They're fast with referrals. They have online and phone booking options. I prefer to call. They listen. Reception speak in a hushed tone so I try to avoid them Most staff are caring and listen to you. Good signposting offered to other services too.
It's easy to make an appointment on the app but when you go in there isn't a lot of communication. My last appointment wasn't great, they prescribed me paracetamol. The reception is very nice.
They're amazing, much more efficient and get things done. The doctor lets me talk a lot as I get anxious and they let me let it out. Really happy with them. They refer you too, they're brilliant. They helped me to use the NHS app too.
Pretty hard to get appointments with them, it's always a struggle. Luckily I can just contact my midwife if I have any issues.
After speaking to the GP about the importance and urgency of having my daughter's prescription sent to the pharmacy on time regularly each month, it's been 3 weeks and yet the pharmacy says it has not received a prescription and we cannot get through to anyone at the Medical Practice.
It hasn't been easy to access them, but they have recently introduced a service where you can call any time of the day and you can get a same day appointment.
They've been quite good with follow ups. I'm able to get appointments and it can be quick. Very good.
Over a week ago I phoned to make an appointment for a medication review. As it is the 12 month one I assume I need a blood test. Asked to book one - told no appointments. I said that wasn't very satisfactory as it could delay my repeat prescription. The receptionist offered a medication review a week later when she said I would be able to discuss a blood test with the GP. Waited till mid afternoon on the appointed day only to be phoned by the pharmacist. She could not help because I need my medication adjusted. Appointment now booked for a 2 days time. So it will be 12 days from first contact, then the weekend and another 2 days before I can get a new prescription for tablets I need to take each day assuming that I don't need a blood test before a new prescription. So this brings me to a phone appointment with the doctor 11 days after my initial request. I have not required more than 3 appointments for the whole year. Others I know get appointments all the time with ease. I have been with this practice over 50 years!
The GP was very nice, they had a good conversation with me and treated me very well. I was prescribed medication.
They made a same day appointment and saw that I had a problem with my kidney. They sent me straight to the hospital.
The new online appointment system is good. The GPs are very kind and listen to you. They referred me to Heartlands ENT.
It's not bad but appointment booking is a mess and cancellations has always been constant by the GP. When I did a blood test I got the wrong results from them so I had to do them again which is pretty annoying and frustrating having to do it again. Appointments are online.
They took bloods from me and they were good. They explained everything and said they would book me another appointment to discuss my results. They're very helpful. I appreciate the service they give.
Good, a bit of a struggle. If I need certain things they will try their best and for the kids they do their best too.
Since having a baby I have found that the practice have always been able to provide advice, and the health practitioners I have seen have always been supportive and professional. Immunisations and registering my baby were easy to do and done promptly. Thank you.
It take so long to get an appointment. The service is very good when I do see my doctor.
Very difficult to get an appointment. I have to wait for ages on the telephone to talk to reception for an appointment.
Very difficult to get an appointment but the GPs are excellent and caring.
It's really hard to get appointments. The doctor is good there. Calling them to get an appointment takes ages.
I got an appointment which has improved but I am not happy with the care I get from them. I have been to them about my back a number of times and placed on medication and physio. It hasn't improved. The care is not good.
I was seen here for glaucoma and referred to the eye hospital. The staff and the care was excellent.
They referred me onto gynaecology quickly.
I haven't been there much. I don't seem to get appointments so I just wait to see what they have available. They will let you know what is coming up in a week or two.
First time, I had heavy bleeding, tried to see a doctor but the next appointment was over a week after with the only option of telephone appointment. Second time now, too dizzy to even stand, been trying to reach them for days, they don’t pick calls, might have to call an ambulance, been crying all day in pain
The doctor put me on medication because I was very stressed. I couldn't focus. The doctors are very lovely, very good services. Signposted me to counselling. My GP is very understanding, very good, even if I have to see a different doctor. Always very caring and kind. I couldn't have better doctors. They are all great. When I lost my adopted mum and friend last year they were so supportive. They listen to me, gave me medication and signposted me to Samaritans, A&E, 999 if I was experiencing self harm.
Always a long wait to get appointments. But the GP is very helpful. The GP listens to me and engages with me in a very nice manner.
Impossible to get appointments. They overbook more than they can handle. The reception staff are rude and the doctor doesn't call when I have phone appointments, this has happened twice now.
No problems. I am able to get an appointment easily. The GP referred onto the hospital for x-ray for my knees and hips.
They are not bad. They're doing okay. 99% of the doctors are always available for appointments.
Been calling from the beginning of this week to book an appointment with my GP, to find the appointment system has changed without any notification to patients. You have to wait for the automated message to finish, which takes over a minute. Then once you get through you’re in the 20-30+ in the queue, to be told once you get through there are no appointments. They don’t have access to next day appointments but can book you one for the following week. The receptionists are not empathetic at all and very abrasive, they rush your call and more time cut you off before you’ve finished what you we’re calling about. Makes you feel you’re not valid, causing unnecessary anxiety because you can’t get an appointment and the way you are spoken to. I have suspected heart issues and need appointment with my GP, I can’t even get an emergency appointment either.
The system for appointments before was fine, you call (1) and could request a call back from your GP and you can discuss your needs or an follow up on a previous appointment. Your GP decides if they want you to see you face to face. Or you can request a face to face if you need. You had 2 options. All appointments are face to face now regardless of your needs. Some things can be resolved over the phone and don’t require a face to face appointment. The call back system helped with this. There is no call (1) to put you through to appointment straight away, you have an automated message to listen to that takes up your waiting time, which leaves you far down in the queue and if you end up in the 20-30+ you can guarantee there will be no appointments on the day. I think it’s a waste of resources and needs to go back to how it was, because it was working perfectly fine.
They don't monitor patients with long term conditions. They miss medications. Appointments are complicated as you have to chase to get an appointment on the day and they don't give you one, or what time they will call you back when you do get an appointment. They are not big on follow ups. Its is not a thorough process.
The GP is very good and booking appointments is good. The car park is bad.
I got ill last year. They instantly knew what is was and were very helpful and respectful. GP is very caring and knew about my mom. He was very respectful. Just really really good.
As part of registration they wanted me to go to the chest clinic. I registered with the GP as I have recently come to Birmingham. They wanted me to go to the chest clinic. GP has been very good so far.
I am happy by the service provided. Very good nurses at the surgery.
Very difficult to get appointments. On 11th Aug I went for bloods and have not heard back from them since last 2 weeks.
I used to be able to turn up and get an appointment, but you can't do that now. No one knows when they're going to be ill, but I cannot contact them in advance to make an appointment because they only do on the day appointments.
Hard to get an appointment have to ring every day. Receptionist are not very nice. Act like they work in a hospital. Don’t get an appointment with my own doctor.
My partner is disabled and has trouble with mobility, he is also hard of hearing and virtually deaf in one ear, and the pain medication he is on affects his memory and the ability to process what he hears accurately. As a result, when he needs to see a Doctor he can spend ages on the phone in a queue only to be told that there are no appointments left for that day and to call again at 8am the following morning. This is a huge issue as again, because of his medication, he often doesn't wake up until closer to lunchtime and is then extremely groggy for an hour, so any chance of making an appointment is almost zero. And all appointments tend to be callbacks, and again he either cannot hear the doctor, doesn't understand what is being said, and because of his typical male pride, he won't ask for something to be repeated.
Now here is the really annoying thing.
We can call at 8am to make an appointment only to be told that there are none available and to call back the following day. This happened recently when I had to call the paramedics out in the early hours of the morning because my partner had collapsed and was struggling to breathe. They were here within minutes I'm pleased to say, and they stayed for several hours checking him over, giving him oxygen, calming him down and getting him relaxed again. I was told to call the surgery as soon as they opened and tell them what had happened and that the paramedics had insisted he was seen by a GP as a mater of urgency that day, and to tell the surgery that when I was making the appointment. They even wrote this down on the discharge form so I had proof. As per usual, I got the same answer, no appointments, call tomorrow.
So, I do what I always do, walk round to his surgery, get to the reception desk and utter the magic words "I'm a carer for one of your patients and it is urgent that I get an appointment/call back with a GP today." Without fail, I get a same day appointment; a call back if IO can take and listen in on the call, and a face to face if he needs to actually talk face to face with the GP.
It really shouldn't matter whether I'm his carer or not, but that magic word "Carer" has always gotten a different level of service.
Hard to get an appointment, Phone up, just changed system. Tried to get an appointment, which is now mostly online.
They're okay. It's difficult to get appointments. If I cannot get an appointment, I'll go to the Children's for my daughter. You ring the surgery at 8am and by the time you get through there's no appointments left.
I hurt my hand in September and couldn't get an appointment with the GP until October. I have been referred for Physio which will not start until December. It's been a long wait for a referral. They haven't given me anything, no exercises before this appointment in December. I had to make noise to get an appointment and medication.
Attended here for a vaccine clinic to get a covid autumn booster. Volunteer greeter was very friendly, and staff in the clinic were pleasant and efficient.
Only downside was the environment in the waiting room and reception area. It looked worn, and the receptionists at the practice weren't very friendly to people coming in for enquiries. I also noticed they insisted on proof of ID and address to register - this isn't needed, and they shouldn't be insisting on it.
I see a different doctor every time I go. They did send me to hospital for tests when I first started getting my symptoms.
When I can get through they are good. Process of trying to get and appointment isn't good. They do appointments over the phone, I did have a face to face appointment today after a month.
It's not good. I've got to call at 8:30, it's like this everywhere now. There's also long waiting times in the queues.
The doctor has come to visit me as I am pregnant, they have confirmed my pregnancy and took a history but I have been told they do not deal with long term cases. I have tried to register with another practice but they have said they cannot register me due to my post code and living in temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.
We are a migrant family being hosted in temporary accommodation and we are finding it hard to register and get support at a permanent GP practice.
Just had a phone call back from a Dr. They should explore if the condition is better seen face to face. I was referred to the hopsital QE due to high blood pressure, but couldn't understand why they couldn't take my blood pressure at the health centre.
Can't get face to face appointment.
Excellent. I was divertred from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital, and everything was great.
The actual service is great but the demand on the service is very high, resulting in a long wait for appointments and a feeling of not being to really totally discuss medical concerns as there is not enough time. The GP's themselves are outstanding with their service.
It was really well organised with very professional staff and volunteers who were very helpful as well. I felt safe and was told all the information that was relevant for me and the GP who gave me my vaccine checked beforehand about all the other medication I was on in order to make sure the vaccine was suitable and safe for me.
Appointment making for today needs a phone call at a certain time in the morning. The appointment involves very little waiting time in the surgery. Always listening and interested in your problem, asking questions to focus on your complaint and obtain correct diagnosis.
Attended a clinic for the Covid-19 vaccine. The clinic was well run and organised. Lots of volunteers helping and cleaning. The only bit that could be improved was a separate area for waiting 15 minutes after the vaccine, as it was a mixed up area with normal practice patients, people waiting for the vaccine and people who had had it.
Online survey questionnaire: What has worked well for you during lockdown?
Answer: Bath Row Medical center was good at telephone appointments during this period.
When you actually have an appointment, the care can be quite good. However it is near impossible to actually get an appointment. I have been trying to get one for weeks.
I even had a receptionist phone to tell me I needed to discuss something with a Dr, but she rang in the evening when no appointments were available apparently, and helpfully said I just had to call back at 8:30am to try get one. However, if you try and call then, it's nearly impossible to get through, and you get told the queue is full and it hangs up. I can't afford to keep ringing, and the timing is so inconvenient as that's when I'm commuting to work. The online app seems to never have appointments, and just signposts you to private care options now. Wheres the NHS care?
The nurse was very good but the receptionist who was a man was very horrendous and has a very irritating attitude. Laughing at me family with the other colleagues because we are asylum seekers. Actually makes you feel unwelcome
Okay
Excellent
Poor
Had a nurse appointment for a long term condition that I was struggling to manage properly. She was very kind and understanding. I left the appointment feeling much better and more in control of my health. I wish all appointments were like this.
Side effects not explained, secondary issues of treatment & medicine not explained properly resulting in stress.
When I am working it's physically impossible to get an appointment. You have to go there, as if you call you can't get through and you can't get an appointment.
The online system doesn't work as you can't re-book. If you work you can't get in, so the only way to get an appointment is to take unpaid leave.
When I make an appointment with the GP it is essential that they remind me of the appointment by text. I would often miss my appointments and I get the dates and times mixed. Due to my problems and the medication, I have memory problems and problems with numbers. About 2 years ago (When they didn't yet have the text reminder system) I raised this issue with my GP, when I was waiting for my appointment for two hours, and they got very angry with me. He said you patients waste my time and come here with other issues. Other doctors are brilliant. It's still difficult to get appointments. Phoning and waiting in the queue and then no appointments available.
although getting an appointment is hard, once i got one i was helped, and most importantly listened to about how i felt around my mental health. i was referred to mental heath support services but when i see a Dr they often ask if it helping and suitable for me
I'm a 75 year old person with no major health issues. I served in the navy many years ago and ended up living in South Africa for years. Recently I had to move back to UK. I don’t have stable accommodation but I’ve used this GP and they have been great. They did a full health check up on me. Having said that, a 10 minute appointment time seems very short if you happen to have real health issues.
I have had nothing but bad experiences at this practice for the last 4 years and I'm glad to finally be moving away so I can go to a different GP surgery. It's extremely difficult to get an appointment (2 to 3 week waits are normal), the receptionists are very rude and defensive, and the appointments are routinely less than 10 minutes long. I have never seen the same doctor there twice, which is a problem if you're dealing with scans/referrals/consultants as they all assume there's a named person at your GP who can receive letters etc, but this isn't the case. I've been left waiting unnecessarily for weeks because letters have been lost etc. Once I was prescribed something by a doctor whose name I didn't know (no badge, didn't introduce herself) and the name on the prescription was from another doctor who'd left the practice a while ago - so I had no idea who'd actually prescribed me the drugs when I had a complaint (more on that later).
The worst thing about this place is the quality of the care, as I have been being treated (or at least I've been trying to get treatment) for a painful problem for the last six months, and during that time they've made some serious errors. The problem means that I struggle to eat, so getting it treated is urgent, but nobody seems to care about that. The worst error was prescribing me with a common anti-inflammation drug, which was helping my pain, only to phone me a few days later and tell me to stop taking it urgently as it is 'dangerous for your heart' and 'shouldn't have been prescribed'. I did so, was very worried about it, carried on being in pain, then later it turned out that of course they were safe for me to use and were re-prescribed to me by a doctor who actually knows what he's doing at the hospital. In the meantime I'd been left in pain for at least a month with my problem getting worse. The surgery didn't have a record of who'd prescribed me the pills as it was under a previous doctor's name, presumably because they seem to have new doctors every day and I guess they must all be temps or substitutes. It's also very difficult to get repeat prescriptions, as every repeat apparently needs a doctor's appointment before it's approved, and this means you have to wait for weeks without medication. Because this happens so often I've had to avoid some treatment routes for my problem because the risk to my health of running out of the pills and stopping them suddenly outweighs the possible benefit. I weaned myself off my mental health medication for this reason too, as I was left without my prescription for days every month, causing me distress. This is very dangerous as some pills have the risk of suicide if you stop them suddenly.
Today I paid £10 for transport to an appointment first thing this morning, about a letter which had been sent to my GP from a consultant - it was just a red tape appointment which I needed to get a prescription I'd been told I needed last month, and had been waiting until now to see someone. I was told twice by receptionists that the letter had already arrived, but in the actual appointment, the doctor couldn't find it and told me they 'might' be able to get a copy of the letter by fax (since they'd clearly either lost it or never had it in the first place and lied to me), and I'd have to go away and maybe be called back to maybe get the medication I need for the pain I've been left in. It was difficult not to cry, because I was so disappointed in the practice, but I wasn't really surprised. Everyone I have dealt with at this surgery seems to be incompetent and don't even seem to care that their patients need their help and have nowhere else to turn. I have never complained about a free service before, but I feel like I have to at this point because this service is dangerously badly run.
What could have been done better? Helping disabled individuals more by giving advice on services available to them.
I've been having lots of appointments for an ongoing issue and really needed more help than they were giving me. At one point I said in an appointment that the NICE guidelines say I should be getting a particular treatment and in a timely manner, but the Dr just brushed it off and said oh, NICE guidelines say a lot of things that only work in an ideal world.
The Drs ask me to come back every few weeks, but it is so incredibly hard to get an appointment, it sometimes takes me longer to go. The waiting room is almost always really quiet, they never seem to have enough people working actually providing appointments.
Reception staff are rude and abrupt and can never get an appointment Dr never appears to have any sense of urgency my dad goes to the surgery and never gets a clear answer so he will be leaving aslo
Can never get an appointment no matter what time or day you call. Today its telling me the maximum amount of calls have been reached and terminates call its ridiculous.
The following is a copy of a complaint I have sent to NHS England about this surgery:
I have been a patient of this surgery since April 2001. I never had a problem getting an appointment nor with the service received until a few years ago, when things started to change dramatically - the decline in services seemed to start soon after this surgery moved to the new building, where it is currently located.
Ever since moving to the new building, getting through the phone or being able to get an appointment with a GP has become virtually impossible. However, the waiting room is always very close to empty, an image which you would never see at the old building and does not correspond with a surgery of these characteristics: the registered population is over 11.5k patients and they have, according to their website, “3 full time GPs, 5 part time GPs, and 1 locum GP”. The waiting room on a day when there are genuinely no appointments available should not be empty but full of waiting patients as appointments tend to over-run.
This GP practice has adopted an extremely obstructive system for giving out appointments which in practical terms consistently leaves a large number of their registered population without access to a GP. A small subset of all available appointments are released by "the system" every morning around 08.30 for the day and for the following 2 weeks. Once this handful of appointments are given out, that’s it for the day.
The practice opens at 8am but they don’t start answering phones until 9am. What has been happening for a long time now is that patients have to queue outside the building whatever the weather from well before 8am. At 8am, the people queueing outside go in and are each given a number corresponding to their place in the queue. From 8.30 onwards, when ‘the system’ releases the handful of appointments for the day, people are called in order and given an appointment. Only those at the head of the queue will get an appointment and everyone else would be told to try again the following day or go to a walk-in centre – the closest one being about a mile away and is nurse-led, not GP led.
Meanwhile, those who are unable to put themselves through this process (because they are too ill, are at work, etc.) will try and call from 9am. First of all, they will not get through (this is their number 0121 622 4846, I encourage you to try) but if they happen to get through, by now they will almost certainly be told that there are no appointments left and to also try again the following day, which would be pointless as the same thing happens every day.
I believe the practice has adopted this perverse system to simply benefit themselves. By purposely holding back on appointments, their figures are misleading as will always show that every day they are able to give ‘same day’ appointments as well as 24, 48 hour and same week appointments, as well as have no waiting list at all since patients who have been unsuccessful in obtaining an appointment (or even in getting through the phone!) are turned away without any records of their numbers being taken. The practice performance will look fine to anyone looking at official figures despite only a minority of patients requiring medical attention managing to get seen by a GP at all.
The practice also offers the option to book appointments online. Recently they changed their online system and instead of migrating all users they simply left everyone without this option until they physically go to register for it again – not always easy when you are in full-time work. They also demanded another copy of your passport/driving license, which you had already provided when you first registered for online services. This means they now hold two copies of official ID documents in your records, despite the fact that only one is required. I’m not sure if this complies with the Data Protection Act, but I don't think it is justifiable for multiple copies of these documents being available to staff where one copy could easily be taken without anyone noticing and used fraudulently. In any case, only a tiny minority of patients are registered to use the online booking system (less than 2% of registered patients, according to NHS choices) but even for those who are, the number of appointments made available for booking online is even smaller than those available through the surgery and mostly a week or so away. Most of the times when you log in there simply are no slots available at all and you just get a message advising you to contact the surgery!
It is simply inhumane and an indignity to treat patients like this. Those who are too sick or simply unable to queue in the cold from 7.30am are left virtually without access to primary care. Not even those who queue outside at the mercy of the weather are guaranteed one either!
The way Bath Row Medical Practice has chosen to operate for their own convenience is not just putting patient’s health at serious risk but it is highly likely this appallingly neglectful GP practice is wasting NHS money, as many of the people unable to access primary care will end up in A&E, some with complications that will require hospitalisation that could have been easily avoided with treatment from their GP. As there are no records of the huge proportion of people turned away every day, it is difficult to quantify the numbers and the seriousness of this issue, but it is a well-established fact, backed up by plenty of evidence, that difficulty in accessing primary care results in higher A&E visit, admission and mortality rates.
I believe Bath Row Medical Practice needs to stop holding back on appointments and start making all appointments available at any given time, so patients can make an appointment with a GP at whatever time they are able to call, visit the surgery or log in to the online system. If that means the surgery has no appointments available for weeks, then the issue of capacity needs to be addressed instead of masqueraded as it currently is the case.
You cannot get appointments as they are hard to contact.