Hillview Medical Centre - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
-
Review titled faultless
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Georgia - Posted on 23 April 2024
Having had bad experiences previously I am very reluctant to go to the doctors, since registering this is the first time Ive attended this surgery and my mind was put completely at ease. The receptionists were incredibly friendly, helpful and empathetic over the phone and once I got there, explaining to me what I needed to do and where to go. The doctor I saw was also very understanding, empathetic and made me feel very heard. Thank you for making a usually anxious experience so easy
Visited April 2024
Hillview Medical Centre has not yet replied.
-
Review titled So disappointed with how this practice is now
Rated 1 star out of 5
by C Thomas - Posted on 04 October 2023
Firstly need to say receptionist lovely and helpful on phone. But after over 30 years with this practice I am just so upset with experiences over last year. In particular this time, the triage system where the new website forms do not allow enough detail and then after more than 24hrs the reply by text gives a phone appointment in 20 days and does not answer what I felt was for me an urgent question. Discharge letter from hospital not showing on record after a week and it seems therefore not reviewed all though that is unclear as I can’t talk to anyone who knows. Medication given by hospital needs repeat prescription but I can’t see how to ask for it when my record not up to date. I understand that things are different now and that there is a lot of pressure but the stress of not being able to get answers to a fairly simple question doesn’t help when you are not well. Asked specific questions including one about medication and no reply. Sadly looking into other local practises. Feel there is no continuity of care now and it feels unsafe. If someone had taken a short time to reply by text or phone to answer questions it would have helped.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 10 October 2023
Dear C Thomas I am sorry that you have had cause to complain, the practice takes all complaints very seriously and I have investigated your concerns. Thank you for stating that the receptionist was lovely and helpful on the telephone but I am saddened that you are upset by your experience over the past year and that you are disappointed with the practice. The new website has been provided by our commissioners (Surrey Heartlands) and I am afraid we have very little control over the content or the design of the form. All forms that come into the practice are clinically triaged and the clinician decides on what appointment you need and how long you can wait for that appointment. I am unable to answer the query as to the discharge letter from hospital or the medication without additional information from you. I would be very happy to discuss this further if you contact me and I can investigate this further and give you a more rounded response. Yours sincerely Jackie Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Gone down hill
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Martin - Posted on 26 October 2023
I am disabled and house bound. Trying to contact you is almost impossible. Doctors do not visit, but give telephone consultations weeks after your enquiry. I feel if a doctor had visited my health might be better,and would have been referred to StGeorges’s sooner. One bright light in the gloom, my Covid, flu jabs were well managed by the surgery. They took place 3days after my enquiry. This was a home visit by the nurse. I find the new website bare sufficient, not enough scope to adequately explain my needs. I have to constantly remind the surgery that I am disabled and house bound and that I require home visits. The website does allow me to reorder prescriptions which is ok, but I ask for phone confirmation and get a text message. Once upon a time I could receive an E - mail reply and could converse with you. This new site does not give this as an option. Trying to contact you by phone is nigh on impossible! I’ve been a patient of yours since the early 1970’s , and moved with you to your present location. This practice has gone down hill in the last couple of years. I realise that many things have contributed to this and some are out of your control,but your staff should listen to what a patient says and treat them as an individual. And not as a number that is supposed to respond to every text message sent by the surgery quoting web site to visit that are not reachable. Yours sincerely Mr nolan
Visited October 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 06 November 2023
Dear Mr Nolan I am very sorry that you have found it difficult to contact us. The practice does take all complaints seriously and I have looked into your concerns. I am afraid that we do not manage the website, it is provided by our commissioners, Surrey Heartlands and we have previously fed back about comments that our patients have made about it but this has not brought about any changes. When you submit a form, if the clinical staff require more information than you have submitted they will send back a response asking you to clarify the position or query. All forms submitted though the web site are triaged by a clinician and an appropriate appointment and waiting time is then offered. If a home visit is considered appropriate then the clinicians will visit. I can see that we have responded to all of the forms that you have submitted and you have been given an appointment on each occasion. I am pleased to hear that you found our home visiting service for the covid-19 and flu immunisation service useful and well managed, I will feed this back to the nursing team. I am sorry that you feel the practice has gone downhill in the last couple of years and that the staff do not listen to you. I would welcome a discussion with you to understand instances or occasions specifically that have led to these general comments as it is difficult to address this on this platform. Yours sincerely Jacqueline Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Impossible to contact
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Ernest Boughton - Posted on 21 July 2023
I have been trying to book a blood test, requested by a doctor, for 4 days. On the three occasions when the phone has actually rung no-one has picked up. I have rung all three practice numbers frequently, until I got the gentleman telling me to use the website, which like the practice registration system does not work. It allows only cancellation of an appointment.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 24 July 2023
Dear Mr Boughton I am sorry that you have had problems getting through on the telephone. I can assure you that we have receptionists answering the telephones but the lines are very busy. We introduced a new website on 12th July and it is taking time for people to learn how to use the new system and this is increasing the number of calls to the practice. My colleague has suggested that you put your request through the website as this would avoid you needing to wait on the telephone. Your request would have been dealt with by the admin team and then the results emailed or texted to you. We do understand that our current telephone system can be improved and to that effect we are changing the telephone system soon, new features will include call waiting and call back features which mean that together with knowing where you are in the queue, you can also ask for a call back by leaving your telephone number. This does not loose your place in the queue but saves you having to physically hold the phone whilst you are waiting. I would be happy to discuss any of this further, if you would like to please do contact me on the telephone number below. Yours sincerely Jacqueline Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Apalling new wesite
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 13 July 2023
They have just switched to a new website It Does Not Work!!! I just need to order some medication, the old website was ok but they have changed it to something that clearly has not been tested… tried phoning but constantly get cut off because I suspect 10,000 other people are having the same issues!!
Visited July 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 17 July 2023
Dear Patient I am sorry that you have had cause to complain, we take all complaints very seriously and I have investigated your concerns. We do have a new website and it is working. The forms for repeat prescriptions are available 24 hours per day. The website has been provided by Surrey Heartlands ICB, our commissioners, and has been piloted in a number of locations in the area. The intention is that all practice in this area will use the same website. If you would like to contact me directly so I can explain how the website works I would be happy to do so. When the new website was activated there was some downtime on the site and we are very sorry but this meant that those usually using the site then used our telephones instead which did mean there were an immense number of calls coming in that way. We have also found a new telephony provider and hope to be moving our telephone system in the next 4 - 6 weeks all being well. Please do contact me if you would like to discuss this further. Yours sincerely Jacqueline Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Hopeless online service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Andrew Cornish - Posted on 05 June 2023
Why is it that the online forms close at 16.00? And when the service reopens at 8.00 the service has immediately reached capacity for the day. All I wanted to do was leave blood pressure readings but I simply get a message saying the the Practice has reached capacity for urgent online requests for the day, despite attempting at 8.00 on the dot. My need is not urgent but is something that the GP asked me for. Very, very frustrating
Visited June 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 12 June 2023
Dr Mr Cornish Thank you for your comments and I am very sorry that you have found submitting your readings frustrating. We have listened and today we have launched a new protocol within the practice to make it clear when the forms will be available. From today the forms will open at 08.00 and close at 11.00 each day (Monday to Friday) Each form is triaged by a clinician and managed appropriately. We did try and run a system whereby we could close for urgent on the day requests but leave a form open for routine queries but unfortunately people were still putting urgent requests through and it was unsafe. The local NHS commissioners have engaged a new provider for our web site and so this will change in June/early July and I hope that the new site is clearer for patients to use. I would be very happy to discuss this further with you , if you so wish but I do hope that the service is improved for you in the future. Yours sincerely Jackie Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Excellent service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Rebecca - Posted on 11 May 2023
I have yet again been so impressed by the swiftness of the response to my email and actions taken. I have found this to be the case every time I have had to contact Hillview over the last few years. I feel Hillview offers an excellent service to it's patients.
Visited May 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 15 May 2023
Dear Rebecca Thank you for your feedback, I am so pleased that the practice has responded to your enquiries and taken appropriate action. I will share your comments with the team as it really makes a difference to hear that you feel the service has been excellent over the last few years. Thank you also fir taking the time to add this message , it is appreciated. Yours sincerely Jackie Stockill Practice Manager
-
Review titled Impossible to speak to anyone
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 02 May 2023
My consistent experience since registering with the practice is that it is almost impossible to get through on the phone to speak to anyone. The online forms do not cater for all needs so sometimes I need to call. Today I was on hold for 25 minutes and then was cut off. This happens about 80% of the time. If I persist I may get through. The longest I have been on hold before being cut of was over 40 minutes. The last time I called for an appointment, the receptionist would not book me one as she thought I was wrong and needed a blood test instead. I was persistent and she said she would check with someone else and call me back. Over a week later, with no follow-up phone call, I was sent a text message advising me of an appointment at a a time which is completely unworkable for me. So now I need to call again. What is so disappointing about this is the l stress that this causes me: I'm calling from work so being on hold for so long is really awkward. The doctors and nursing staff are really nice and I feel the care is good but they are completely let down by the admin at the practice.
Visited May 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 04 May 2023
Dear patient Thank you for your feedback. We are very sorry to have caused you further stress and I would like to prevent that from happening again. We agree that the website is confusing and difficult to know which forms to use. The website which is provided to all practices in Woking is being changed. The Surrey Heartlands team have found a new supplier and so we will be moved onto the new site in May to June (assuming the project goes to plan). I hope that this will make the website easier for patients to use and so free up the telephone lines for patients who need to contact us in that way. I do appreciate that the telephone lines are very busy but I can assure you that our system records the numbers of calls we are taking and how many of those are dropped calls. We do also find from our software that the time of day also reflects how many people are trying to call and so it may be easier for you to call us at less busy times such as the middle of the day. I do understand your frustration of waiting for a telephone call back and not receiving it and then receiving a text message. I can not respond with an explanation as your post is anonymous, but if you contact me I can look into what happened in this instance and if there is a need to discuss what happened with your situation I can then discuss with the staff concerned. Thank you for your positive feedback about the clinical team, going forward I hope we can make you feel that the admin team do not wish to let you down but provide the service that you need. I would appreciate a discussion with you to that end. Yours sincerely Jacqueline Stockill Practice Manager Direct dial 01483 228059
-
Review titled Impossible to get through or make an appointment
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 10 March 2023
It is impossible to get through to Hillview. The phone will keep ringing and no one will pick up. Once I was so frustrated that I decided to wait as loon as it would take for someone to answer. My call was finally answered after about 20 minutes of ringing. And the staff answered the phone to say that they couldnt help me. The surgery insists on using its online forms. However, some of these forms dont work either. I called again to report this and they just said that you will have to try again later or come into the practice: I just had to submit a BP reading. I have used an online form to book an appointment and it took them 2 days to revert, and this after another form was sent in as a reminder. Hillview never used to be like this, but recently, the practice management seems to have fallen into disarray.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 14 March 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback, I am sorry that you had difficulties contacting the practice. If you could contact me in person then I could look into matters more closely for you. For instance if you were trying to call at 8am our phone lines are very busy and so it may be better to call later in the morning. I could also listen to your telephone call and speak to members of the team if appropriate. The online website was introduced to make access to the practice easier for patients so that they did not have to wait in the telephone queue to receive an answer to a query, request medication or book an appointment. Each month we answer an average of 14,000 phone calls and our system records that on average we only miss around 300 calls per month. In the past year we have received and responded to 64,756 requests through our website. All requests are read and triaged and I can look into your individual request if you provide details. However it would appear from what you have said that you asked for an appointment, the request was triaged as routine and someone contacted you within two days to make the appointment. If you would like to discuss any of this further please do get in contact with me directly. Yours sincerely, Mrs J Stockill Practice Manager 01483 228059
-
Review titled Flu vaccination
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Beverley Hawksworth - Posted on 05 November 2022
Superb organization and administration of the flu vaccine for over 60’s. My husband and I were both very impressed by the quick and easy organization. Many thanks.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Hillview Medical Centre
Replied on 08 November 2022
Dear Mrs Hawksworth Thank you for your feedback and kind words, I will pass on your message to the team. We held four weekend flu vaccination events which proved popular; we managed to deliver vaccination to most of our eligible patients and it is good to know that you found the process quick and easy. If you have any other feedback at any time, please do share it with us. Yours sincerely Jacqueline Stockill Practice Manager