The Eden Surgeries - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
-
Review titled No on the day appointments ever available
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Gregory - Posted on 27 February 2024
Tried Friday Monday and Tuesday. No appointments. Phoned 111. After a2 hour wait told to go to pah clinic. When refused as I have suspected water infection and couldnt wait around in public place, was told to try gp again. Gp has no appointments.
Visited February 2024
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 26 March 2024
Dear Gregory I am the Practice manager at Eden and I am very sorry to hear that you were unable to get an appointment with us. It is a fact that we have been under pressure to provide appointments to meet the demand from our patient population, especially during the winter months when demand is particularly high. During February we also suffered from illness related absences amongst our clinical team which exacerbated the problem. When the Practice has used all of it's available same day appointments, we direct people to NHS111 so that they are able to speak to an available clinician, but unfortunately they tend to push patients back to the GP despite being aware that we have no available appointments. As a practice, we are working hard to ensure that we maximise our appointment availability by ensuring that we only allocate same day urgent appts to those who actually need one, and reduce the number of (very frustrating) DNAs - did not attend. Please feel free to contact me directly via eden.surgery@nhs.net to discuss this further, or discuss with me personally when you next visit the surgery. Once again, apologies for the inconvenience that this has caused you. Peter Eldon Practice Manager
-
Review titled Waste of time!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 24 February 2023
Every time i call this doctors at 8am i will be on hold for just under an hour to finally get through and to be told to call back at 2pm, for the exactly same thing to happen. Absolute waste of time even trying to get an appointment here. Disgusting.
Visited February 2023
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 10 March 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your review and as Practice Manager I respond as follows: For information, at 8am and 2pm our highly dedicated yet often abused reception team typically field between 200 & 300 telephone calls from patients trying to book a finite number of available appointments. We encourage only those requiring an urgent appointment to call at these times, but "urgent' is a subjective evaluation and inevitably we receive many calls from patients whose need is not urgent (it is a shame that more people don't visit the NHS website which hosts wealth of information on how to treat common ailments before the need to visit a GP). Non urgent appointment requests can be made later in the morning or afternoon when queuing is minimal. Our clinicians provide approx 4000 appointments each month and all of them are fully booked all of the time. Everyone at the Practice works flat out every day in a very demanding working environment to try to deliver the best possible service, so whilst I acknowledge that you experience is a frustrating one, what is actually happening is far from "disgusting". We are working to adapt to the circumstances. For example, we will soon have a much improved telephone system in place that will improve the patient experience when calling in, with other improvement initiatives also ongoing. Finally, I should remind you that you are at liberty to move to another local Practice where you may be met with a service that better meets with your approval. Please feel free to contact me at eden.surgery@nhs.net to discuss is desired. Peter Eldon
-
Review titled Unable to get an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Leonard Eavy - Posted on 20 December 2022
I am a type2 diabetic male . I phoned the surgery at 8am waited 40 minutes to be told there were no more appointments. They advised me to go to the Herts and essex walking centre which I did, only to be told from them that they only deal with minor injuries. A complete waste of time . I returned to eden surgery to inform them and to see if I could get someone to see me at anytime. Am so worried about my condition and was told lmany times by the diabetes nurse if I have any problems with my feet to book a appointment immediately. To which the receptionist told me that they 14000 patients and everybody is ill this time of year.
Visited December 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 22 December 2022
I am very sorry that you had to wait on the phone to get an appointment and were unable to get the appointment time that you wanted. Primary care services across the UK are under immense pressure to meet the demand for appointments and are regularly working at full capacity. It is sometimes necessary to direct patients towards other available services when we have no available appointments left to offer. I can see that you have had a consultation with our diabetic nurse this month which I trust will have fully addressed your concerns. Apologies for the inconvenience that this may have caused but be assured that our clinical team do everything they can to see patients requiring urgent attention.
-
Review titled Terrible administration - no chance of getting an appoinment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 07 September 2022
I called the surgery dot on 8am, was told I was 2nd in the queue by the automated message. after 90mins on hold, with no movement on my queue position, I called via my mobile (whilst still on hold on the landline) and was 9th in the queue. That position went down and once I got through to someone, they hung up before I could speak. I called back later in the morning, and was basically laughed at that all appointments had gone as it was late in the morning. wasn't even able to get a phone appointment and told to call in the morning or at 2pm. Called in the morning, waited over an hour again to get through and then given an appointment at PAH
Visited September 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Dear patient, Thank you for your comments, and I apologise for the inconvenience caused. As practice manager, I take all feedback extremely seriously. It is a regrettable fact that across the whole UK primary care network demand for appointments is outstripping supply. We provide 3500-5000 clinical appointments each month to our patient population of under 10000, with priority given to urgent cases requiring same day attention. All local practices had been allocated overspill GP appointments at PAH. What particularly concerns me is your reference to being hung up on, and then laughed at. Our reception team is coached to treat patients with respect at all times and so I will need to investigate this fully to identify the people involved. Please send details to eden.surgery@nhs.net - I am able to interrogate the telephone system to track calls, identify queuing times, and the receptionist that took the call.
-
Review titled Gone from being a great surgery to diabolical service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 18 August 2022
I have left a fabulous review years ago before pandemic to now leaving a review because I am fuming with the service I now receive. Unable to get an appointment after only being 4th in a queue is unimaginable and told to call back tomorrow is just not acceptable. Things should be back to normal by now and to not be able to even get a telephone consultation is just beyond believe. Sort yourself out team, employ more staff so you can get back to the way things were.
Visited August 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Thank you for your comments and apologies for the late reply. The practice continues to provide between 3500 and 5000 clinical appointments each month, but it is also a fact that demand for appointments outstrips demand across the UK Primary Care network. For the record, we will always provide an emergency appointment for patients that need one (last month 2000+ of these), and it is not the case that you cannot get a telephone appointment with us. Last month we provided 1300 telephone appointments . We apologise for the problems that you have encountered booking an appointment but hope that you will start to see the benefit of the many changes that we have made/are making to Practice procedures and structure.
-
Review titled Why Bother To Leave A Review
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 July 2022
None of these reviews have been responded to so what is the purpose of them? There doesn't appear to be any improvement in service and we are now having to put our repeat prescriptions in at least 3 weeks in advance and, most of the time, they are still not ready!
Visited July 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Thank you for your comments and apologies for the late reply. The Practice has undertaken a significant body of work during this year to improve services, with a new management team in place. Our dispensary now turns all prescriptions around within 72 hours (repeats are made available when they are due) and we have introduced Electronic Prescribing (EPS) to send prescriptions to the pharmacy of choice for non-dispensing patients. Be assured that we have been very aware of patient feedback, and I hope that you are now experiencing a significant improvement in service from Eden
-
Review titled Worst Practice in the area
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 12 July 2022
They do not answer their phones. Its a nightmare getting your prescription as you can only go at midday to collect it and they do not consider that not everyone works in the area. I need to take tablets everyday for the rest of my life and yet they still do not have the tablets ready when I need them. They used to be the best in the area but since Covid they have become the worst.
Visited June 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Thank you for your comments and apologies for the late reply. During this year, the management teams at Eden have been strengthened to address the performance issues that patients were experiencing. Our dispensary team now turns all prescriptions around within 72 hours, and we now use EPS to send FP10 prescriptions to the pharmacy of choice for non-dispensing patients. Please enquire a reception to take advantage of this service. We have strengthened the reception team and upgraded the telephony platform, and whilst there may still be some queuing at peak times you will find that the telephone service that we offer is much improved. I hope that your view of Eden has improved now that the significant body of work that we have undertaken has started to take effect.
-
Review titled Practice Not Fit for Purpose
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 24 May 2022
Practice still hiding behind Covid and very poorly managed. Ring at 2pm for an appointment and phone message to say they are having problems with phone system which has now been going on 6 months. Wait 1hr on hold only to be told no appointments for 2 weeks so call back then. Thoughts are I would be dead or better by then! Always under staffed and elderly and infirm patients made to queue 15 deep outside in all weather just to get a prescription. This practice must be the worst in the county and needs reporting to the primary care trust. Us the tax payers fund this practice and they should not be accepting funding for a service they simply do not provide. They treat their patients with disrespect.
Visited May 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Thanks for your comments and apologies for not replying earlier. During this year the Practice has changed its management team and undertaken a large body of work to address the issues raised by patients. We have upgraded our telephony platform to remove glitches from the queuing system and complimented this by strengthening our reception team. Whilst there will still be call queuing during peak periods, call waiting times have reduced significantly. Our dispensary now turns prescriptions around within 72 hours and queuing is no longer an issue. We have made significant changes to team structure and reviewed all associated working processes to deliver a vastly improved service, and I hope that you will now be experiencing the benefits of this. With regard to appointments, it is a regrettable fact that demand outstrips supply across the whole UK primary care network. Eden provides between 3500-5000 clinical appointments each month to a patient population of under 10000 and will always prioritise urgent cases with a same day appointment. All staff continue to treat patients with the upmost respect at all times.
-
Review titled Terrible service not receptions fault
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 09 May 2022
I was on the phone an hour in line then when answered I needed to make rather an urgent appointment not because im slightly ill a very important appointment which I was told phone back tomorrow . I am at work tomorrow its ridiculous .This practice used to be amazing now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.You could be seriously ill but phone back tomorrow and we will fit you in within 2 weeks .Huh ! what a joke .
Visited May 2022
Review titled The Eden Surgeries
Replied on 17 November 2022
Thank you for your comments and apologies for the late reply. We will always provide an emergency appointment to patients that need one. Regarding the telephone queue, we have upgraded our telephony service since your comment was posted and strengthened our reception team to reduce queuing times. whilst at peak times there may still be queuing due to the number of calls that we receive, you should find that you queue for significantly less time than you had to earlier in the year.