This GP practice is fantastic. The receptionists are caring and helpful and the GPs go above and beyond. We feel extremely lucky to be part of the practice.
I stood there for 15 minutes. Without an apology. Only me standing there. One of your receptionist was chatting away to another co worker. I heard the conversation which was nothing to do with her job. Talking personal and family. This is unacceptable. I stood there very patient. Was treated without courtesy or any significance. It was demoralising
They always answer the phone very quickly. Good with arranging appointments and providing vaccines for the children.
Registered in May, went to get repeat prescription and was told I’m now registered at Wembley London ??? then looked at me as if I was telling lies
Unable to get weight loss injection from GP. Despite him saying it would benefit me he just told me to buy private! I’ve done this but the support would have been better from my GP.
They're okay, they see us when they can. I try not to bother them. They have us referred on very quickly so no complaints there. Calling can take a while but I've got a bit of time to kill.
If you accept any doctor you may get one that day. If you want to see a specific doctor you're in a queue and you will have to wait, simple as that.
Long waits on the phone and rude reception team. It's impossible to see your GP.
Can't fault them, they're fantastic.
I get my vaccines here. A good service is always provided.
They've been good me. I used to go often. Staff are very good to me, very kind. I'm grateful for such a good service.
Good, just hard to get through to them. You're left on the line for ages and then no appointments left. The receptionists ask loads of questions before they allow you to speak to someone too. They used to be online but now it's all on the phone which is harder to access.
It's a nightmare. You can't phone as you wait ages. If you go down they say to call. The process is a nightmare. The doctor sorts things when I do see someone but it just takes so long.
The pharmacy inside is good. They always have medication ready on time. Good staff and very helpful.
Excellent care and treatment provided to my parents over the years. They have always booked their flu and covid jabs in advance for them too.
My GP surgery is good. They give me same day appointments. All the staff are very nice.
I wait 2-3 weeks to get an appointment. It's an issue.
100% of appointments are over the phone which isn't any good for me. I used to dread going as they wouldn't see me.
It doesn't feel as if this service has returned to normal after covid. It is very difficult to get an appointment and follow ups are poor. I spent 8 months waiting to see a specialist. The reception staff have improved slightly in regards to attitude towards patients but there is very little privacy in the reception area and they are often unable to hear you. Appointments go online at 6:30am which is not helpful if you have difficulties getting up as all of the appointments are gone by 8am. This means I have to rely on someone else to call for me.
Very good. I can get appointments. I have no issues.
Really good. Before you had to call or queue up outside until they introduced the new online system so you are able to book non-emergency appointments. The care and staff has always been good. The new system works well.
It has been good. One of the screens isn't working. The appointment has been good. It was late but asked for an earlier one. It is tidy and organised.
Lockdown affected my mental health considerably. I phoned my GP surgery on at least 8 or 9 occasions, trying to get help. I told them I was getting flashes of wanting to injure myself. I knew this was a dangerous red flag. All I got on every occasion was a trilling receptionist saying the exact same words, "All the phone triage appointments are gone for today, ring back tomorrow." I phone the Samaritans one morning at 3am and talked to them for 2 hours. In the end I had to turn to a private psychotherapist for some advice, but not ongoing treatment because it was unaffordable as I was prevented from working. I am self-employed.
I now have some kind of PTSD which has left me completely unable to phone my surgery. I know they hardly answer the phone at all anyway now and waiting times are 30-50 minutes. But I know if I was told there were no appointments and to ring back tomorrow I would start screaming and not stop. I CANNOT phone this dreadful surgery, which is now part of a Group Practice. A neighbour, ex-Health Visitor, who used to work for one of the 6 surgeries now in this Group, refers to it as a "money-making conglomerate". Letters of complaint, no matter which surgery, are rumoured to all be sent to one GP who oversees everything and complaints just disappear.
The Group offers the same dreadful website for each Practice and this is how I was able to make appointments. Not through the Make An Appointment part - because although 3 or 4 weeks appointments are listed, none are ever available. All gone. So I used to send a Message. I explained long ago about my PTSD and the way I was treated and they know I cannot phone the surgery, so I was told I could make an appointment through the Messages part of the website. But recently, needing an appointment for a bleeding mole on my back, I found the Messages part greyed out. I had to physical travel to the surgery to stand at the desk and ask to be seen. Only to be told that ALL first appointments are now phone consultations. I was THERE, physically there. They were suggesting I travel home, wait for a phone call and travel all the way back again! I said I would not and that I wanted a face to face appointment and I would wait. After much muttering and black looks in my direction, I was given a face to face appointment and saw the doctor 10 minutes later. She immediately fast-tracked me for possible malignant melanoma.
While I was there I asked WHY the Messages part of the website was greyed out. Oh, there were 'too many' messages and the poor Receptionists had to read them all! So they now deny patients the possibility of sending a Message at all! Lazy and uncaring.
More recently I developed what I felt might be a chest infection. I am 65 and asthmatic and felt concerned. But I could not phone the surgery. If I go to lift the phone I start shaking and crying, because of what they did to me during lockdown. I felt too ill to travel to the Practice, stand in long queue and have to argue for a face to face appointment to save me a second journey. Instead I made an appointment with a private GP, whose practice is very close to my home, where I knew I would be seen promptly. I had turned to them during lockdown, because they answered the phone immediately and face to face appointments were and still are, the norm there. Cost for consultation £75, cost for antibiotic prescription, £9.65. Cost for the thyroid tests and treatment I had to have from them during lockdown - and now - because my GP refuses to treat me properly for the thyroid problem - has run in to hundreds of pounds. £150 annually for thyroid blood tests, £9.60 for every prescription, which would be free if it were NHS because hypothyroidism is a lifelong condition.
My NHS GP Practice was fine before lockdown and before it became a money-making conglomerate. Now it is appalling. On the two occasions I have stood in a queue in the surgery, everyone is complaining about the wait for the phone to be answered, the lack of face to face appointments, etc.
I need help for the PTSD caused by my GPs appalling service during lockdown, but do not know how to go about getting it. I cannot afford private psychotherapy. It is entirely the NHS GPs fault, and they should provide help, but I cannot phone the surgery, cannot leave a Message on the awful website.
Very happy and satisfied with the excellent serviced received over the years.
They have no knowledge about my medication for epilepsy. I don't know what is going on. All the repeats are fine. They don't do the checks or reviews on the medication which gets done when I go to the hospital.
Made appointment for my wife before going on holiday in October
It's difficult to get through. There is long waiting times on the phone. You have to wait it out. If its important. The GP appointments are face to face when I do get one.
Very good compared to my old GP. They took an interest in seeing what the main cause was for anaemia and referred on to hospital to haematology for blood tests. Explained the results really well and kept up dated through text messages sent to my phone. Really good.
You simply can’t see a doctor at this practice, they have no appointments, waiting an hour just to speak to the receptionists on the phone. Really an investigation needs to take place on how they have so many patients registered (ie tax payers money) but not caring for those patients and still taking on more.
Really lucky, I can make appointments with them. My daughter had a high temperature for 3 days, I called the surgery at 8am sharp and I got through to someone after 30 minutes. I'm satisfied with them to be honest.
Terrible. I can wait in the queue on the phone for over 30 minutes, then when you get through all appointments are gone. The only way to get an appointment is to go to the surgery at 8am and queue. They're much worse since they joined the Sutton Coldfield General Practices group, they're useless!! I was offered a telephone appointment for an eye problem, it's crazy. I eventually got a face to face appointment and was referred to the eye hospital and now all is okay.
Very good up until COVID, then like everyone is having a struggle to get everything done because of backlog.
One complaint, they cancelled my appointment, they said they sent me a text cancelling it but I didn't see it and had travelled there, which is difficult when I have mobility problems. I am partially deaf and cannot always hear when they call my name. Otherwise the surgery is great, it's clean and the staff are really good.
It's difficult to get an appointment. You phone up and wait an hour for them to answer and even then it's hard to get an appointment. Staff are really good once you get to see them.
I made a mistake with taking medication on holiday. Contacted 2 pharmacies who said they can no longer do emergency supply as GP can send all over country. Contacted Ley Hill to be told to call 111. Contacted 111 who said the same as pharmacies. Tried to call Ley Hill again. No response after 1 hour when call cut off. Desperate at this point. Taking half dose of medication to eke it out for holiday as a consequence MS pain and mental health deteriorated. Again refused to give a week prescription. Left message on ‘ask a doctor’ saying I was struggling and would no one help me and giving the code number needed to send to the pharmacy in Devon. I then tried the online BUPA GP to get a Private Prescription but they were not able to prescribe one of my drugs. Got a response from Ley Hill saying it was with the emergency doctor. Called 111 again who said they were appalled at response from GP. They did a referral to Boots in Kingsbridge. Pharmacist called within 5 minutes. After hearing the saga he agrees to do the emergency supply though as my surgery was open and he should have the prescription. He began to ask me to contact Ley Hill again but then said that he was not going to do that as I was obviously distressed enough.
This is frightening as I have long term conditions and have no confidence in my care.
Hard to get appointment but it’s like that everywhere.
Trying to get a dr appointment at Leyhill is frustrating and near on impossible! Today I stood in a
queue of 20 listening to what should be private conversations between reception and the patients; discussing their ailments, frustrations, and some very personal issues in public. I finally arrived at the desk to be told there are no appointments left for today and to try again another day. When I explained that it is difficult to call at 8am due to work commitments, the receptionist replied “Yes, I work too”. Such empathy!!!
Trying to get a dr appointment at Leyhill is frustrating and near on impossible! Today I stood in a
queue of 20 listening to what should be private conversations between reception and the patients; discussing their ailments, frustrations, and some very personal issues in public. I finally arrived at the desk to be told there are no appointments left for today and to try again another day. When I explained that it is difficult to call at 8am due to work commitments, the receptionist replied “Yes, I work too”. Such empathy!!!
Trying to get a dr appointment at Leyhill is frustrating and near on impossible! Today I stood in a
queue of 20 listening to what should be private conversations between reception and the patients; discussing their ailments, frustrations, and some very personal issues in public. I finally arrived at the desk to be told there are no appointments left for today and to try again another day. When I explained that it is difficult to call at 8am due to work commitments, the receptionist replied “Yes, I work too”. Such empathy!!!
Come to house if I need them. Blood tests at home and they come out to see me. Deliver my tablets.
The phones get answered after some time. The ladies are very very nice on the phone. I get angry when I see a doctor and they tell me I always need medication. I have trouble with my leg.
Trying to make an appointment continues to be a challenge. It's either an attempt, in the early hours, to book online and finding no free slots within the week or 2 weeks, or a phone call from 8am with a message first telling you to ring again later unless you need an urgent appointment, followed by a long wait (eg 'you are 65th in the queue') whilst having to endure the annoying and constantly repeated warning not to be abusive to the receptionists etc. On more than one occasion, whilst really needing to 'see' a GP to be checked out I have been driven eventually to give up and self medicate, which may have prolonged my condition and certainly didn't really improve it. Or, of course, I took advice from other patients, and walked (half an hour ) to the surgery to arrive at 8am to stand in a queue of hopefuls waiting to see if I was one of the lucky ones to get a spare appointment. Not exactly what I felt like doing when unwell. I must say at this point that on the occasions I've eventually got through on the phone I've been treated very kindly and patiently. Also, on the two occasions I've actually gone to the surgery at 8am, the receptionists have also been very helpful and polite and I was lucky to get emergency appointments. But then that's not straightforward. Because, for example on one occasion I walked home - another half hour (I'm nearly 79) only to get a phone call from a doctor when I arrived home to ask me to go straight back to the surgery to be checked out! So another half hour walk there, and then back. Then there are the telephone consultations. Yes- sometimes perfectly OK, but not always appropriate if you need examining by a doctor. I feel this is a waste of the doctors' time. Surely a doctor can pick up on various points by actually observing a patient during the consultation.. Their demeanor, appearance, movements, breathing etc. ( I would have thought this would be very appropriate for patients with mental health issues). Again, when I have actually been successful to manage to see a doctor at the surgery I can only say it has been a good and reassuring experience. I've had some thorough check-ups, blood tests and follow up phone consultations. However, I feel the whole system is a complete mess and so convoluted. I fear for those who less determined and internet savvy than myself and at the same time have little confidence that the situation will improve in the future, when I too may become less able to deal with these barriers that we face at times when we are in need of help, advice and medication etc.
They are really good usually but after Covid you cannot get face to face appointments.
I submitted a set of blood pressure readings and received a text asking me to book an appointment. I called into the surgery as trying to get through on the telephone is horrendous. 'You are number 31 in the queue...' - nightmare. I was told my appointent will be a 'phone call from the GP on a date +++32 days+++ later. I'll just repeat that 32days later !!!!!!!!!!!!
Had letter from surgery asking me to make an appointment. Each time I rang was told no appointments available for nurse. Ended up going into surgery to ask for the appointment I needed.
Surgery were very helpful.
I been looking on online, calling and going down to the surgery but there are no appointment's
Repeat prescription, which I had since 2006, not now on repeat list. Ordered online, can’t get it. Can't contact Surgery. Will not accept calls to go on waiting list for calls. No response at all. Last week saw a nurse as I had discomfort and wanted mammogram. Left a comment on Surgery website and next phone call accepted. This the most dreadful service I ever experienced at a GP Surgery. Apparently there is now no alternative system in Sutton Coldfield, as all previous five practices now belong to this one, which clearly cannot handle the situation.
we have to use systemonline to book an online appointment but for fifth times today i did book but when asking practice keep telling me no appointment was booked .
phone 8 am for a week now but it ask to call tomorrow .
I am shocked they are allowed to operate in this way, they lack care & compassion and seem to disregard all the basics of communicating with their patients. They have all but turned their back on my request for their support, putting their priorities over patient needs. I’ve had to continually fight to be heard and chase to get a response from them. They have continually tried to justify their actions by giving me incorrect information. When I attempt to challenge this information they either ignore me or repeat the same information. No attempt to actually have a conversation with me. I am exhausted in trying to support myself through this process & feel incredibly let down by the surgery. I’ve been made to feel like I’m completely insignificant and my quality of life (which I’m fighting for) is an inconvenience to them.
This service has got worse since they joined as Sutton Coldfield Group Practice. Can't get through on phone and reply to "Ask the Doctor a question " was to be patient on phone or book on line 6-8am. This never has appointments anyway. Hope this service improves but looking at older experiences over 2 years old I'm not hopeful at all. Sad that this once fantastic surgery is now like this.
There are never any appointments available. Poor communications too “ You are 48th in the queue “. I am worried that, particularly as I get older, if I am ill I will not be seen.
The appointment service is diabolical. You need to call at 8am and wait in a queue for up to an hour to be answered.
The surgery are now not giving out GP appts. You have to have a telephone consultation and then the GP decides if you need an appt. My mother was due a review of medication as they wouldn't give her a repeat prescription until she'd had it but then wouldn't give her an appt. eventually over the phone the Dr said, blood tests are ok leave it as it is. She is usually weighed as one drug is dose dependent on weight , and has blood pressure checked.
There are hardly ever any appointments available.
It takes an age for the receptionists to answer the phone. Up to 45 minutes in most cases. When you do get through you mostly cannot get an appointment only a phone call from the Doctor.
Ok
My wife was peg fed. The surgery did not understand that they had to sign a script and return to supplier. They lied on 2 occasions saying they had done it. Telephone was impossible (60 in queue). Went to surgery after 2 letters they refused to see me. I had to threaten them that I would enter surgery till something was done. Only the person at Lloyds pharmacy saved us with emergency script.
I have to wait for THREE AND A HALF WEEKS to get a simple blood test!!! I have been waiting WEEKS to even get an hospital appointment notification to see a back pain specialist. Even when I eventually get an appointment, you can be sure it will still be months away. I should not have to be in constant pain.
I hate to sound too negative but 'service' is not a term I'd would use. There exists a wall surrounding the surgery that is hard to penetrate. Phoning is almost impossible and to try to make an appointment is very difficult near impossible as it's 3 weeks hence from when you need to see a doctor. Or go to A&E
Still not seeing patients . Difficult to get through in the phone . Certain receptionists think they are medically trained .
Very difficult to get through on the telephone . Always told to see nurse practitioner.
The receptionists did not know the system for dealing with supply of nutricia feed. I had to cause a scene to get any service. Phones were unanswered. Even then it was the chemist who save us ftom running out.
It was excellent until they merged with the Sutton Practice Group . Now it takes ages to get through if you want to speak to a doctor. Online prescription ordering is great
Very long waiting times to get through on phone. Triage service adds additional time unnecessarily.
After spending over 20 minutes on the phone on three occasions trying to get an appointment I had to resort to emailing them to get back to me.
Didn't feel very personal having to have a telephone appointment.
Hard to get hold of anyone. Appointment via phone.
We have tried to get the flu vaccine but no appointments available at GP or local pharmacies.
Very poor service. One hour before phone is answered on several occasions. I was sent to see nurse at a different health center she referred me for a scan. My husband had a telephone consultation with GP he sent him for blood test then some time later called him with results and gave him prescription without seeing him at all.
Disorganised entry - queues outside for pharmacy, nurse, receptionist and doctor
Awful unable to get through to book for my daughter. Tried 3 times on hold for 90 minutes then got cut off.
My husband has recently had a heart attack. I tried over 2.30 hours to get through to speak to someone on the phone. I had to go to the surgery to get a response. Having explained why I was there it took a receptionist 5 minutes to come outside to see me. She then took paperwork off me & said she would come back to speak to me. I waited 25 minutes & had ring the intercom for assistance. I spoke to a different receptionist who knew nothing about the paperwork or anything i had handed in. This paperwork disappeared.
Convoluted appointment system. Meant to have a nominated GP but never seen them. Confusing to patients.