Bootle Village Surgery

I have been with this surgery for about 7 years now and am just about at the end of my tether. You can very rarely get through by telephone without having to press redial about a hundred times. Appointments are usually a week in advance unless you require an emergency sameday appointment whereby you have to ring up at 8.30am which, of course, you rarely get through. For the fifth time in a row my repeat prescription has been wrong. The reception staff say they will amend them and get them faxed to my nearest chemist which they never do on time. On a plus note, the Dr's themselves are very good. Very through and willing to listen apart from one doctor whom I never see because they are so sarcastic when you go and see them.

I have left my name at the top in the hope that a doctor from the practise is willing to search my records and make some sort of a reply. I highly doubt this will be the case as they appear to only care about numbers on their books rather than actual feedback, and given the number/nature of comments made on here that have yet to be replied too, I won't hold my breath in this instance.

After yet another failed attempt to get an appointment I decided enough is enough.

I would rate this practise for customer service somewhere between extremely poor and outrageously poor. The doctors are great but consulting with them is a near impossiblity.

If you can manage to telephone them and get through I guarantee you the earliest appointment will be at least 1 week. I have never been able to telephone up for an emergency appointment and get one on the day. The best you can hope for is to ring after 9:00am knowing full well that you will be suffering for at least a week. If you don't mind suffering in silence this practise would be ideal for you.

I cannot comment too much on the service of the staff as in order to be served you first need to make some form of contact. Given the lack of phone lines and constant engaged tone I decided to call into the surgery directly. After queuing for 10 minutes i finally got to speak to the receptionist who advised me that if I want an appointment I needed to be waiting outside the surgery at 8:30am. After which I must wait around on the off chance there is a cancellation or an appointment can bit fitted in. I laughed in their face then explained that as a full time employee this seems impractical for me and there is no way my employer is going to allow me to do this so is there any alternative. They searched their database and said the earliest I can fit you in is a week today. Having a good deal of experience in dealing with this I fully expected this response and already had my reply to them ready in the form of demand to remove me from there records immediately and to make my file ready for transfer to another GP.

I have now completed my new GP registration and I am looking forward to dealing with another practise. This has been a very long time coming for me. On average I use the doctors services once a year, twice if I have been unlucky. I have never had a pleasant or expedient experience with it, in fact I would definately go so far as to say you get a faster service at the walk in centre. I have always had to wait for appointments, and have on occasion had little or no say in medication. I rated this portion of the above questionnaire as "sometimes" as there is one excellent doctor at the surgery, who always listens, but getting an appointment with them means at least 8 days wait.

If you are considering this practise as a family surgery I would think twice if I was you. Read all of the comments made here before making your decision.

Phoning the surgery is frustrating, when you are eventually answered the staff seem overwhelmed, and far to medicaly involved. Appointment waiting time is unacceptable. Perhaps another phone line, or filtering calls to a nurse, or designated call back staff could relive everyone needing to contact you. I hope this does not offend

I am sick to death of trying to get through on the phone. I have just tried for over 30 minutes, constantly pressing redial, must of been 200 times and it is continually engaged. I find it impossible to believe it is that busy. They must leave the phones on an engaged mode for a period of time. I find it outragous, god help the elderly patients, they mustn't stand a chance. The whole working practice needs seriously looking at, it is an absolute disgrace.Their must be an outside body who can monitor this.

I have to say whenever i have needed to see my GP, i always find the reception staff and either doctors/ nurses very helpful also i must say that i do feel the reception staff always try their best to arrange a suitable appointment time or to organise repeat prescriptions.

I have been at this surgery since I was a baby, and its slowly but surely going down hill. Reception are nothing but polite. On the rare occasions I go (because I can never get an appointment) its obvious how much pressure the staff are under. This is down to poor managment! I have now found myself another surgery

However I saw some good doctors in Bootle Village Surgery, the management is responsible for organizing the service e.g. work of reception and what they call "routine" (system that allows you to see a doctor after one week of waiting), that is totally unacceptable. People are not going to chat, that could wait one week, there sick people are going to look for professional help, and instead of seeing doctor for any reason - the door is shoved to them very politely by staff of reception, doctors even don't get to know about symptoms, decision wait one week is made by management/staff. And whoever was writing the letter to me and wasting the time telling me what your clinic is not going to tolerate, I just want to inform that I saw no good changes in one year and I change the surgery.

My whole family are with this practice,. We have all always received excellent care from all the of the GPs and the receptionists are very informed and willing to help. OK you may not get an appointment on the day or time you ask for, but listen to horror stories of your friends and family who are with other practices! I think if you are ill and in need of treatment you will be seen asap. if it is a minor ailment then yes you may have to wait a little longer, but you will still be treated in good time. I would only give this practice good praise. (although I do miss my old doctor, a really lovely person!)

try to see a doctor,its a joke. The whole surgery has gone down-hill

What I liked

The gaggle of parking attendants outside waiting to pounce.

What could have been improved

A playroom for the shrieking kids,Stanley Road perhaps.

Any other comments

I have been registered at this practice since birth 50 years ago,my father and grandmother before that and I am now looking for a new practice. The last time I needed the doctor was for a medical 6 years ago which I paid for myself and of course had no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately,I recently needed to see the doctor as a matter of some urgency and after trying to get through on the phone for some time,was told that there where no appointments available for the coming week! Needless to say,when the time arrived the urgency had subsided and I cancelled my appointment in the hope someone else could benefit. My wife was left in agony with a water infection after a long wait for an appointment and was told by the doctor that she should have come earlier. The real annoyance is if you have a look at the top right hand corner of the web page,you will see that they are still accepting new patients. Surely to be able to look after the patients they already have should be of paramount importance rather than to swell the coffers of what seems to be a very over subscribed practice.