Lindley Group Practice Healthwatch Kirklees

Awful reception staff

April 23, 2021

Receptionists do everything they can to stop you seeing a doctor

judith frame

Extremely difficult to get an appointment

April 22, 2021

The online same day appointments run out at about 8.15 am (today the choice was two locums which might be OK for a one-off problem but not for an on-going one) and by the time you have got through to the receptionist by phone all the appointments have gone. You have to wait 6 weeks for a "non-urgent" appointment and then you have only have a choice of 3 slots (all before 8 am) and 1 doctor (so you probably won't get to see the doctor of your choice). These slots run out before 8.30 am so there is no mechanism for booking an appointment of any description later in the day when it's more convenient. And I have never yet been able to book an afternoon appointment which would be more convenient for me.

Anonymous

Abrupt, off hand staff, phone calls unanswered

January 24, 2021

Advert on TV, says "if you have a health problem, don't worry ring your doctor", but this is okay if a person actually answers the phone!!! Tried for 8 days at various times, but each call clicked off, no ring at all. Went to the surgery to ask receptionist to ask doc for phone call. The off hand abrupt reply from receptionist was "No, you have to ring the surgery",I replied I have been ringing for 8 days but can't get through "!!. Receptionist then said" go home and keep ringing ", which I did for another 3 days but got no reply. Not at all a good experience during this Covid time, without any explanation .Pleasant and understanding staff may ease the situation, but sending a patient home in excruciating knee pain, to continue ringing the surgery, instead of just taking the message for the doctor to contact me is appalling.

Anonymous

Very poor reception staff

January 11, 2021

Reception staff are never positive or caring but today they were rude and the tone and approach was completley not needed - asking for an appointmenet should not leave you feeling dreadful

Anonymous

Good

February 5, 2020

if I need to go I ring up to get an appointment. They let me know when they can fit me in . I prefer to see someone downstairs as I feel safer . I have on occasion been offered a slightly longer appointment to talk about a few problems

Anonymous

nice staff

October 3, 2019

Really nice staff. Can normally see same GP and she can remember everything! Had 3 family deaths recently and they were brilliant. Did home visits to my dad and came out every time we requested it. Can always get appointments.

Anonymous

Great service

June 13, 2018

I do not often come to surgery but the drop in sessions have been ideal for me and have always been seen within an hour. It is especially noted when I hear others complain about wait times of weeks.

Anonymous

Friendly service

June 5, 2018

A friendly and efficient service and informative service

Paul Kenny

Unable to book an appointment with a doctor

September 8, 2016

Attempted to book a same day appointment with a doctor on Monday morning and phoned the surgery at 7:30am as advised. After recieving an engaged tone on my first few attempts, I managed to get through to someone at 7:45am and was informed that all appoinments had been taken for that day and I should call back on Tuesday morning. I phoned back at 7:30am on Tuesday (as advised) and recieved an engaged tone on the first few attempts, before speaking with someone at 7:40am, Again, I was advised that all appoinments for that day had been taken and that I should try to call back on Wednesday, or alternatively use the 'drop in' session on Wednesday, From my previous experience of the 'drop in;' session, I had to wait for in excess on an hour, which isn't feasable, as I have a full time job. The other alternative was to book an advanced GP appointment, but the first available slot was on Tue 4th Oct (4 weeks away). I undersatnd that my surgery is under increased pressure, due to new housing developments in my area, but It's really dissapointing that I am unable to book an on-the-day GP appointment at my local surgery. I would hope that changes could be made to faciliate a greater number of on-the-day bookable GP appointments.

Anonymous

Reply from Lindley Group Practice

Hello, I can advise we are currently experiencing significant pressure with appointment demand. The appointments are largely being used for follow up appointments that Doctors instruct the receptionists to book. We are a large practice with 10,400 patients working from a building with limited rooms and therefore unable to employ additional GPs to meet demand.

You are obviously aware we hold 3 open access surgeries per week on Monday/Wednesday and Friday mornings for patients to drop in between 7.30 - 9.30 on a Monday morning, and 8.00-9.30 on Wednesday and Friday mornings. By introducing these clinics, we have increased patients access. I am sorry to have had to experience a long wait previously at these, sometimes they are very busy but are proving very popular with out patients.

I understand your frustrations in attempting to book an "on the day" appointment, as I have said earlier, we are currently opening each day with limited on the day appointments which are booked very quickly.

All I can recommend is that you keep trying each morning at 7.30am, but in the meantime, book one of our advance appointments so at least you have one in the meantime which can be cancelled should you access a GP appt earlier.

Have you registered for on line access? This way, you can book advance appointments on line. You can also order repeat medication and see your summary care record too. If you are interested, please see reception with some photo ID.

I can add, we are currently auditing our appointment demand and will be looking to make some improvements to the appointment system in the next few months.

Receptionists arent polite

August 7, 2016

The new receptionists are so arrogant which is a shame they are a few good doctors however one palmed me of when i was young blaming low moods on being a teenager! 9 years later im suffering worse than ever

Anonymous

Lindley Group Practice