Winterton Medical Practice - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Poor service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 30 October 2023
What is the point of having a 24 automated booking and cancelation appointment service when it does not work. Press 1 for the booking service and it just rings and rings and rings. Secondly I asked for an emergency appointment for my partner, who was instructed by a medical.proffesional, to seek a medical appointment with her Dr as soon as possible. To be told it be in 10 days time. Really. A person could be dead in that time. Does the practice not realise what an emergency is. To be told, that she can be placed on Triarge, to cotact a Dr by phone. After 14.30. I feel this surgery is pushing people towards going to A and E for treatment. Why does the surgery shut between 1 and 2. Can they not stagger lunch breaks, 1 half of staff goes at 12 till 1 and the other half go 1 till 2. Like wise doctors. With docs appointments say 10 mins this is an extra 30 appointments a week, if there are 2 doctors that is 60. Or is that not common sense. I am sure a lot of people be happy to see the surgery open at this time.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Winterton Medical Practice
Replied on 18 January 2024
Thank you for your feedback and I apologise you feel the service provided has not met your expectations. Regarding the 24-hour automated booking service, we had identified a fault with this system and reported this to our IT support team who have now rectified the issue. I apologise that at the time of you trying to use the service, it was not working as it should have been. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we appreciate the feedback received from patients to alert us if the system is not working as it should be. Regarding your comment in respect to obtaining an emergency appointment, you mention that you were given a triage appointment and told you would be contacted after 2:30pm. We do provide a service at the practice for urgent issues and patients are initially contacted by the GP/Nurse Practitioner to triage their issue by telephone and identify the most appropriate action for their complaint, this may be booking them in for an urgent on the day appointment the same day if felt appropriate, or it may be organising an appointment for them over the next few days or weeks, dependent on how the clinician feels the case should be managed. This ensures that all patients who present with an urgent issue can be dealt with the same day where appropriate and conditions of a less urgent nature can be booked into a future appointment or dealt with remotely. Should the patient have a life-threatening emergency then we would always advise them to call 999 if they are contacting us remotely via telephone or another means. You have also indicated that you understand the surgery to be closed between 1-2 pm, however, the surgery is still open, we do have clinics running during this time, however our phone lines are restricted to urgent issues only. The health care professionals that are not seeing patients over this period are still dealing with administrative tasks, such as, dealing with pathology results, correspondence from secondary care, organising patient referrals into secondary care, dealing with patient queries, and contacting patients to follow up on clinical matters. We do stagger our staff lunch breaks so there is a receptionist available during this time if needed, this is to ensure that the surgery is open during our core hours of 8am – 6.30pm. The receptionists can focus their time between 1-2 pm to contact patients with messages from the clinicians whilst the phone lines are quieter, patients can still contact a receptionist if the matter is urgent during this time. We were sorry to hear of your concerns, but I hope that this adds some insight regarding the queries you have raised but if you would like to discuss this further then please contact the practice complaints lead (Assistant Practice Manager), who will be happy to respond personally to any further queries you may have on these issues or if you have any further concerns.
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Review titled Poor medical supplies
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 July 2023
Despite many phone calls over three years and promises of good patient care, Here I am again. I have requested on over 7 occasions for my medical supplies to be automatically monthly or bi-monthly supplied, as I am life long user of medical supplies and totally rely on them for my health. Yet I still have to ring the not only supplier, place an order, but then ring the medical practice to have a prescription supplied. Only once in all this time has the medical practice completed the process automatically, and then it failed to continue. This has increased my mental health issue with health worries that I will run out. Ironically though not medically trained, I seen to be in charge of the ordering of my own medical supplies. This process unnecessarily adds three days on to any delivery. The supplier has on five occasions where I requested, released goods on an emergency supply (telling me they will pursue the medical practice). In fact the lady now prompts me from the company on occasions. I have also on at least two occasions where I have rung in, had the prescription supplied a week and two days late. This medical practice has promised to automate this supply, why is it after two years still not done? More importantly why am I having to do these life long orders? I have over the years had good reports to provide on this medical practice, but since 2020 this service has been very poor. I have also collected items on behalf of others who have had the similar issues. I have to ask why nothing is done? It seems that we have to cater for ourselves. I also have to praise the local cancer group within the Hospital, who have helped me out with supplies of their own again as an emergency. I an chairman of a national museum, where supplies are integral to the business, now 2023 this service has made me realise if I could write my own lifelong prescription to the supplier, my life would be easier. Monthly supplies can be computer automated, yet here I am in an antiquated process. Your reply does not matter here. I would prefer a correction and an automatic system in place. Surely a government question would be why is it not there?
Visited June 2023
Review titled Winterton Medical Practice
Replied on 17 August 2023
Thank you for your feedback and I apologise you feel the service has been poor. This is something we would not want any of our patients to feel and we strive to provide the highest patient care to all of our patients at the practice. In regard to your medical supplies, the company who supply them will send us a letter/email to advise what you are needing and once this is received by us, we then issue the items and post out the prescription to the medical supplies company who then issue the items to yourself. Please could you contact the Assistant Practice Manager to discuss this in more detail so we can look into this further and try and alleviate the issues you are experiencing. Thank you Winterton Medical Practice
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Review titled It used to be so good.....
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 29 July 2022
We have been with the practice for over 20 years and it used to be so good. Now it is impossible to make an appointment or speak to anyone one the phone. I have rung so many times in the past week and there has been no answer. Whilst I appreciate that everyone is busy, the surgery should be providing a service and, at the moment, it certainly is not. It's such a shame to see a surgery go downhill.
Visited July 2022
Review titled Winterton Medical Practice
Replied on 05 December 2022
Thank you for your feedback and I apologise you feel the surgery has gone downhill. This is something we would not want any of our patients to feel and we strive to provide the highest patient care to all our patients at the practice. In regard to your comment regarding getting through to someone on the phones. Our phone lines are extremely busy however we are looking at re-opening our booking online to elevate telephone pressures. This had previously been ceased due to the Covid 19 pandemic. we do also offer an online consultation service and try to promote this service as much as possible in order to reduce the number of calls to the practice. This service is available to all patients who have access to a smartphone/ tablet or computer. Online consultations allow patients to submit clinical and administrative queries to the practice which are dealt with by the most appropriate member of the practice team, and this reduces the impact on the phone lines. Using the online consultations service makes it easier for us to quickly decide how we can best help patients with the least amount of disruption. The service is free and confidential and medical enquiries are always reviewed by a GP or Nurse Practitioner. If you think this would be beneficial to you then please visit our website to gain access to the online consultations service: https://www.wintertonmedicalpractice.nhs.uk/wmponlineservices.html I apologise again for the way you feel about the practice and, please let us know if there is anything else that we can help you with. Thank you Winterton Medical Practice
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Review titled Uncaring Receptionist
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 07 August 2022
According to the Winterton Medical Practice website, the following requirements are needed to register for online services: "Patients can register for Systm Online. Once registered you can book appointments on-line, order prescriptions, view your detailed coded clinical record via the internet and request access to your full clinical record. To do this, please ask at reception and bring one form of Photo id and/one form of Id confirming name and address, or two forms of id confirming name and address with you so that we can verify your identity You will be given a username and password for the online service. Once registered, please click on the logo above to access your Systm Online services." Before visiting the practice with the necessary documents, a member of staff confirmed those id requirements and that a uk Photocard Driving Licence and a Photocard Biometric Resident Permit would be acceptable and sufficient. But on visiting the practice, the receptionist refused to even look at the documents presented. I was told that a letter and a photo were required. The receptionist refused to enter any further discussion even when I asked for clarification. Anyone can make an error in delivering a service but being so utterly dismissive to the point of rudeness, is not acceptable way to provide a service. Luckily, Winterton Medical Practice has a second outlet in Burton Upon Stather. The receptionist there accepted my documents without quibble. For these reasons, this review is based solely on the interaction with one member of staff at Winterton Medical Practice and is not meant to be indicative of the service provided as a whole at the practice.
Visited July 2022
Review titled Winterton Medical Practice
Replied on 05 December 2022
Thank you for your feedback and I apologise for the experience you encountered when bringing your documents in to us to register for online services. I have discussed this with all reception staff and extra training has been provided on customer service and the process to follow when helping patients gain access to the online apps. We would expect that this will not happen again in the future and thank you once again for raising this with the practice. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with. Thank you Winterton Medical Practice
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Review titled Used to be a brilliant practice - what is going on!!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 October 2022
I have been with this Practice for 49 years. When you needed an appointment you could just ring and get through, unless obviously, it was first thing in the morning which is normal. Now you are on hold for ages and just when you think you are making progress as "No. 13 in the queue", you either get cut off or remain No. 13 for many minutes. My mother had a heart attack a couple of months ago, she has not heard from the hospital at all in relation to this, but even worse she has now had her appointment to discuss what is happening cancelled 4 times. My mum came to my house crying yesterday because she is so frustrated with the situation, she will not generally leave the house unless it is to go to the doctor/hospital. She is now beginning to suffer from depression, which they know about, but are just making the situation worse. Honestly, you hear about surgeries like this, but never, ever thought it would ever be ours. Do they not get checked by any higher organisations? Using Covid as an excuse is no longer acceptable.
Visited April 2022
Review titled Winterton Medical Practice
Replied on 05 December 2022
Thank you for your feedback and I apologise that you feel the service your mother has received is nor as you would expect. We strive to provide the highest patient care to all our patients at the practice. I would like to apologise for the difficulties your Mum has experienced obtaining an appointment at the practice. We do have on the day urgent appointments each day for those that need to be seen urgently. I am sorry to hear you think there has been no aftercare provided by the surgery following on from your mum’s heart attack. Please could you contact the Assistant Practice Manager to discuss this in more detail so we can look into this for you and try and alleviate the issues your mother has experienced. Thank you Winterton Medical Practice