Oakwood Lane Medical Practice - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Would not recommend!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 12 April 2024
Having recently made an appointment for my 87 year old mum (with stage 4 critical kidney failure) to see a doctor for 16:00, I received a reminder text (2 days prior to the appointment) to tell me the appointment was at 16:40. I was hugely surprised and disappointed when on the day of the appointment I received a text at 16:12 to inform me that I'd missed the appointment! When I rang in to query this detail I was told that yes I had missed the appointment and that they had written a "note on mum's file that the patient needs to come in at 16:00". How were we supposed know, pray tell? We had come into the surgery the next day at 7:50 to queue to make another appointment, only to be told it would be a telephone appointment! Shockingly bad!! Bad, especially for sick people in general but even worse for an 87 year old with no means of getting to the surgery by herself!!! I need to take time off work to facilitate this shoddy practice! This is only one of a string of complaints btw...
Visited April 2024
Oakwood Lane Medical Practice has not yet replied.
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Review titled No appointments ever available
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Ray Symons - Posted on 19 March 2024
I have been wanting to see the doctor for 3 or 4 different ailments, for going on six months now, I need a new prescription, I think I need surgery on my hand, Im having trouble sleeping, and I want a large mole on my head checking out, looks like skin cancer to me. How do I contact a doctor, the desk staff just say no, what do I do? Please please can somebody ring the doctors and get them to ring me at least, I feel totally ignored, its been months, literally months.
Visited March 2024
Oakwood Lane Medical Practice has not yet replied.
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Review titled Disgraceful System
Rated 1 star out of 5
by JACKIE VOLLANS - Posted on 11 March 2024
Having rung at 8am and 8.35am and got a message saying I could not even be put in the queue as it was already at capacity, I rang at 9.31 and was told I was number 14 in the queue (having selected the option for appointments), 58 minutes later my call was answered - politely, I have to say - but I was told "there are no appointments left for today, if it's an emergency you can go to a walk in centre. If it's not an emergency, you need to call back at 8am tomorrow, when the next batch of appointments come out". So actually what I was being asked to do was spend another hour and a half trying to get a non-existent appointment, whilst sat at my desk trying to work - by the way, I have a fairly busy job too! Whilst I was on hold, your "not accepting abuse" and "leave a review" messages blasted in my ear every 20 seconds - can I make a suggestion? Why don't you change the "system" (personally I feel you would be corrected under the trade descriptions act for calling it a system), so that once the same day appointments are full, the recorded message actually tells you that and gives the same advice as the receptionist who has to answer the call to very frustrated and angry patients "go to a walk in centre etc.........". I would have then had the option to hang up instead of being given the false hope of an appointment at the end of my long wait? I cannot remember the last time I had to request an appointment, I am certainly not a regular visitor, but I can assure you I will not be spending another hour on hold tomorrow - I will be going to an equally busy walk in centre after work, and yes I know I will have to wait in line to see someone but at least I will see someone at the end of the day. The "system" you are running at the moment is diabolical and not effective for people who are trying to keep going to work whilst suffering from an injury or illness - or is it your view that if I am well enough to come to work (all be it struggling with pain in my knee, hindering my mobility), that I shouldn't need an appointment with a doctor...........
Visited March 2024
Oakwood Lane Medical Practice has not yet replied.
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Review titled Frustrating experience
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 11 March 2024
My experience is no different to other negative reviews- one hour wait excluding the time it took to get on the waiting list to answer my call, no appointments until next week when I would have to go through this all over again. I dropped something off to the surgery at mid day, not one patient waiting, no queue and extremely quiet. I think I could break into the impenetrable vault of Fort Knox easier than penetrate the wall around GPs.I've read the replies from your practice manager and she seems to fully understand the frustration patients are facing. Multiple practices merging into one are too big to manage. GP surgeries are broken.
Visited March 2024
Review titled Oakwood Lane Medical Practice
Replied on 11 March 2024
I am sorry that you have been left so frustrated. The first hour or so on the telephones is extremely busy and there is often a queue at the door as we open. We do the best we can to have all available resource but we are currently hampered by a telephone system that does not help manage such high peak demand. We have just completed a tender exercise for a new phone system that we hope will help significantly and we have been reviewing our appointment booking system. We hope to announce our plans next month once we know that the new software and phone upgrades will deliver what we hope. Once the morning peak rush has quietened, the reception desk and phones can be much quieter and it is often a good time to contact us with non-urgent queries. I note that you make reference to multiple practices merging and I wonder whether you may have meant to reference Oakwood Surgery which has recently merged with the three other sites that now make up the Diamond Health Group? We have very similar names and postcodes so it does often happen. I don't think GP surgeries are quite broken but we are certainly struggling to meet the demand that we see daily and we share your frustrations. We are having to support many more patients than ever before, who are living longer and have more complex needs. In addition, we are supporting people who are on long waiting lists for hospital appointments and who often need more time and care as a result. These are difficult times in general practice. We know we can do better then we are currently doing and we will put out more information about our plans as soon as we can. However, we will still only be able to care for as many patients as we can safely support each day and that, I am afraid, won't meet everything that is wanted of us. Lindsay, Business Manager
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Review titled Impossible to Contact
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 February 2024
I've been trying to get in contact since the start of the week (12th Feb 24). Patchs is seemingly never open to taking new health requests and when you do finally get to the front of the queue at 8am, the phone just continues to ring and no one answers. It shouldn't be this difficult to get in touch with primary care every time.
Visited February 2024
Review titled Oakwood Lane Medical Practice
Replied on 11 March 2024
I am sorry that I am only just replying to your post - I have clearly missed some notifications to my Inbox. We know that we are not currently handling the 8am rush well. Our telephone system does not give patients the choice to book a call back and with large numbers of calls, we just can't answer them all as quickly as is needed. We are reviewing the way we use PATCHS and hope to be in a position to announce some significant changes to the way we can help patients access the practice and how appointments will be prioritised to those most in need. As soon as we are confident that the software changes will work and we have a deadline for a new phone system, we will share more. We hope that it will make it easier to get in touch. Lindsay, Business Manager
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Review titled Appalling service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 09 January 2024
It is absolutely shocking how poor this practice is!!! I contacted the surgery at 8am for an appointment only to get the voicemail stating they are at full capacity. I made this call as I drove to the practice and when I got there there was no phones ringing. There were 4 members of reception and not one was answering a phone. The receptionist I spoke with was very rude and abrupt. I could not see what could have offended her as I only asked if I could book an appointment. I was told that my appointment was not an emergency so I could not book it for the same day, despite driving to the surgery. I was then given a face to face appointment 2 weeks away. We were not able to attend that day and was told we can only have a telephone appointment. I work in a doctor's surgery myself and we adopt the same appointment booking system. Ours phones are not put on silent and patient calls are not sent to voicemail!!!!
Visited January 2024
Oakwood Lane Medical Practice has not yet replied.
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Review titled Worst practice in leeds
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 16 January 2024
the staff have always a face on in the reception like why did u come the surgery and when asked to book an appointment there always have the same answer come back the practice is a joke and needs new management and staff the Doctors are good but its a matter of getting to see them.
Visited January 2024
Oakwood Lane Medical Practice has not yet replied.
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Review titled Really helped me
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 07 February 2024
I have suffered with alcoholism and mental health for some time but the support from this practice has helped me stop the drink and on the path to good mental health again. Thank you
Visited January 2024
Review titled Oakwood Lane Medical Practice
Replied on 08 February 2024
Thank you so much for leaving such a positive message. We are so glad that you are making such progress towards better mental health and we are happy to be supporting you in your transformation. I will make sure the team knows about your post - it makes such a difference to us to know that we can and do help in such a meaningful way. Lindsay, Business Manager
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Review titled Disgracefully unorganised
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 19 December 2023
They tell you to call at 8am but there's there's message telling you that the phone line is at full capacity. So you keep calling and calling until 20 mins later you are informed you are caller 20.....after over 50 mins on hold you get to speak to a receptionist who sounds like she hates her job telling you there are no more appoinemts and to call again tomorrow. You do this for 3 days and start wo during how the hell they are still functioning and allowed to call themselves a medical practice. What are resources being spent on if you never have the capacity to deal with ant patients. Awful
Visited December 2023
Review titled Oakwood Lane Medical Practice
Replied on 20 December 2023
Dear Patient, I am sorry that you have been struggling to contact us and it feels like we aren’t trying to help. To give some context, we aim to provide between around 160 GP appointments per day, of which 60 are available for same day booking. We used to book everything on the day for GPs but we changed that about 10 months ago as patients told us that they wanted to be able to pre-book appointments with GPs to suit them. Cases of flu and covid are rising so this is adding to the pressure on appointments. As a result, we are receiving around 500 calls and 100 PATCHS a day, along with patients coming into the practice. Even if we put all appointments available to same day, we still would not have enough appointments for everyone who wants one. We have to prioritise the most clinically vulnerable as much as we can. We can and do offer other clinical appointments such as MSK or clinical pharmacists for medication reviews and it is why, at this time of year, many patients are asked to consult their community pharmacist for coughs and colds. We do know that there is more we can do to reduce call waiting times. We are delighted to have recruited two new members to the Reception team. The team finds it equally frustrating that they can not offer all patients what they want - no-one is happy with the challenges that we face. Even the most well-trained of us have times when it feels really hard. We are also looking at our telephone system and appointment booking system and the NHS App to see if there is more that improved technology can do to help us help you. We are constantly trying to find all the small ways that we can to improve. It is frustrating that, despite proving appointment levels for GPs above national average for the size of our practice (and 83% within two weeks), we know that many patients are left feeling unhappy. It is the daily reality for all of us – patients and healthcare teams together. We can only keep trying. If you would like to talk to me more about this issue, please do get in touch via an email to the practice. Lindsay Gollin, Practice Business Manager
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Review titled Changing the practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 31 July 2023
I usually don’t have any issues that I’d to use the surgery a lot but lately when has to the experience been awful starting from staff sitting on reception no manners to talk to patients, very rude behaviour and you will never get a F2F appointment. Also if you had bloods done no one will ever bother informing you about results given they were abnormal too. I was shocked that after a month I inquired about the results myself and they were abnormal and needed to start the treatment which no one actually bothered. This surgery should be shut down!
Visited July 2023
Review titled Oakwood Lane Medical Practice
Replied on 11 August 2023
I am really sorry to hear of your experiences. I would really like to investigate further to find out exactly what happened in your case so I would be very grateful if you would feel able to contact either Lindsay Gollin or Paula Thompson at the practice. There is a clear process with regards to communicating abnormal blood results so I would like to learn what hasn't worked in your situation. Many thanks, Lindsay Gollin, Practice Manager