Pembroke Medical Group - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Disastrous communication system
Rated 1 star out of 5
by John Baines (31/08/1938) - Posted on 18 April 2024
Attempting to get a consultation about a problem via 'Klinic' - no other way accessible. Told I would get a response giving an appointment within 2 weeks - is that 2 weeks to response or 2 weeks to appointment? I cannot find any access to your web system at this time (not even to leave a message/question). In any case, 2 weeks to response is totally inefficient and unacceptable and 2 weeks to an appointment is also unacceptable. I will be honest in that if/when one gets through the obstacle course, the service works.
Visited April 2024
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 22 April 2024
Klinik can identify a primary health issue, recognise its urgency and direct the patient to the right point of care in the most appropriate timescale. It is a registered medical device with a unique algorithm that interprets the patient’s symptoms, into a set of differential diagnoses and estimates the urgency of the care needed. The depth of information that the system gathers from the patient is a crucially important part of this. It also provides important background information for healthcare professionals and enables proactive interaction with the patient immediately. It will help us to provide a much fairer patient experience as it removes barriers to accessing healthcare. Appointments have traditionally been booked on a “first come first served basis” meaning that sometimes patients with an urgent clinical need may have been asked to “call back tomorrow” once the on the day capacity had been reached. The Klinik system will help us to triage based on clinical urgency rather than the time of day that the request was made so if your clinical need is more urgent than someone else, your need will be prioritised. On completion of a submission, you will receive an automated response advising you that your request has been received by the practice and that if the clinical triage decision is that a routine appointment is appropriate then the practice staff will contact you within 2 weeks in order to organise a routine appointment for you. Those patients deemed by a clinician to need immediate attention will be contacted on the day of submission. Pembroke Medical Group has an increasing multi-disciplinary team of clinicians, the GP led care navigation team may direct you to a GP, Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Pharmacist, Physiotherapist, Paramedic, or Social Prescriber depending on your clinical need. Triaging requests using the online tool ensures that we match the appropriate clinician within our team to the patient need. The current demand on General Practice means we have to triage every request we receive, so we can prioritise those who need the most urgent help, in order to keep all our patients safe. Unfortunately, this means at times of particularly increased demand, the wait for a routine appointment can be 4-5 weeks. This remains below the national average. There are times when we will not have an appointment to offer you, this is not the service we strive to offer, but we, like many other Practices in the UK, are struggling to meet the current level of demand for our services. We will continue to do our best each day to deliver as many appointments as it is safe to do so. Ultimately, we do not have unlimited resources and are currently working to maximum safe capacity. We are working extremely hard and we can guarantee that the staff and doctors at the practice will continue to work as hard as they can to deliver the best service they are able to provide within the limitation of the resources at our disposal.
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Review titled Great Doctors
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Deanna Royle - Posted on 15 February 2024
DR Nation was wonderful. Very caring and did everything to help. I now have a plan health wise going forward. Couldn't have been better. Very satisfied. Thank you
Visited February 2024
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 20 February 2024
Thank you for taking the time to provide this positive feedback for Dr Nation, your comments will be shared with her.
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Review titled poor response
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 January 2024
today I spoke to doctor over the phone and she decided that I needed an urgent blood test to assist in her diagnoses , she put the call through for a booking but after a wait of over 20 minutes the call was unanswered by the front office. If they don't answer the doctors phone what chance has the rest of us.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 23 January 2024
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. We are aware that our telephone lines remain extremely busy and we apologise that you have had a long wait on the telephone. We invested in a new telephone system in May 2023 which has already reduced our call waiting times. We also hope that as more patients make their requests for consultation online this will reduce the number of incoming calls and waiting times further.
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Review titled Polite and helpful receptionist
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Joanna - Posted on 22 December 2023
I had a call back 2 weeks after submitting my Klinik e-consult about a non-urgent ailment. The receptionist called to let me know that my information had been reviewed, and offered me an appointment with a doctor for the next day (if I wanted it), which I was unable to make. She was then able to find one for me a few weeks hence. The receptionist was polite, friendly, and helpful.
Visited December 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 27 December 2023
Thank you for taking the time to submit a positive review for the practice. We are pleased that you found our staff to be friendly and helpful and will share your feedback with our wider practice team.
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Review titled Unable to get an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 13 September 2023
I filled in an on line form approximately 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing back. I have tried calling several times, the last being today and was 15th in the queue. I tried to resend an online form but that service was suspended! Is the Torquay surgery closing?
Visited September 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 18 September 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry that you have experienced a delay in response to your online submission. Unfortunately due to the current large volume of requests for routine consultations we are currently working through things are taking longer than we would hope. We apologise for this. The online service is suspended each day at 4.00pm as a patient safety issue as any submission which requires urgent action may not be processed before we close for the evening. The service is available every week day from 8.00am until 4.00pm. We are aware that our telephone lines remain extremely busy and we apologise that you have had a long wait on the telephone. We invested in a new telephone system in May 2023 which has already reduced our call waiting times. We would to reassure patients that there is no plan to close our Torquay surgery.
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Review titled Much improved experience
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by D Pitts - Posted on 06 July 2023
Myself and my husband have recently needed the services of Pembroke Surgery via e Klinic and telephone. The experience has much improved since a change in the system from the kind and understanding call handler to the clinician and response times. There was no delay in my husband’s appointment and I would recommend using the online service as once you become familiar with it, it is convenient and not too time consuming.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 26 July 2023
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review for the practice. We are pleased to hear that you found the new online request service to be efficient and user friendly.
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Review titled Dissapointed with answer
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 02 May 2023
My husband rang about his change of medication after heart op only 7 days ago he was anxious as reception said no discharge letter received I handed it in personally .I rang to help saying I had put att of Dr on envelope would that help them finding it receptionist upset me by saying I don't know why he is stressed I explained to him .My husband was stressed as it's a week since new valve in heart and concerned they could not find discharge paper with new prescription felt could have been dealt more sympathetically .
Visited May 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 16 May 2023
We are sorry to hear of your experience. Do please contact us at enquiries.pembrokehouse@nhs.net with your details so that we can look into this further for you.
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Review titled Great Doctors and nurses, poor reception staff.
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 May 2023
The Doctors and nurses are great, when you get to see or speak to them. First, however, you have to deal with the receptionists, they ask you tell them your most personal issues in front of a que of other patients. Going to the Doctors is already an anxious time and the receptionists don't seem to care about that. Please can the surgery train their receptionists in mental health awareness and caring behaviour. There are signs everywhere that aggressive behaviour or language won't be tolerated towards staff, rightly so, however, it appears that the receptionists can speak to us patients rudely and create a negative response, yet that is acceptable. As for the phone lines, 25 minutes waiting on the results line at 2nd in the que. When I got through it took 2 mins to get my results, even with all the laughing and joking going on in the background. There also appears to be no handover between morning and afternoon receptionists, if you need to follow up from morning to afternoon, nobody knows what you are talking about. A receptionist even filled out a form the other day which stated at the top 'to be filled out by the GP only'. Please Pembroke, back up your excellent Doctors and nurses by getting some kind, caring and approachable receptionists and start being patient focused instead of considering us as a nuisance. We are at our most vulnerable when we are physically or mentally unwell, please have a heart and treat your patients how you, yourself, would wish to be treated. Covid is absolutely no excuse. The cracks in this surgery were starting to show long before Covid, Covid was just the wedge that has opened them up beyond acceptance. Be the best you can be and then others will see the best that you are.
Visited May 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 26 July 2023
We are sorry to hear that you have found our reception team to be rude and unhelpful. Unfortunately, due to demand for consultation being higher than the appointment capacity available the GPs at the practice have introduced a system of clinical triage to ensure that requests are dealt with according to clinical urgency. Therefore, the receptionist will need to lead patients through a series of questions to gather the information required by the clinical to assess priority. In March 2023 we launched a new online consultation request system called Klinik. Patients with internet access via a smartphone, tablet or home PC can submit a request for consultation online without the need to telephone the practice or disclose information to our reception team. We have also installed tablets at both of our reception sites for patients who do not have internet access at home to utilise. If you do not have internet access and do not wish to use the tablets provided in practice to submit an online consultation request, then you will need to either telephone to request a consultation or visit one of our reception desks. In those instances, the receptionist handling your request will complete the online submission on your behalf. We are aware that our telephone lines remain extremely busy and we apologise that you have had a long wait on the telephone. We invested in a new telephone system in May 2023 which has already reduced our call waiting times. We also hope that as more patients make their requests for consultation online this will reduce the number of incoming calls and waiting times further. To obtain test results, order prescriptions and view certain areas of your medical record you may find it quicker to use the NHS App rather than contacting the practice: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/ We hope that this information is helpful. If you would like us to investigate a specific complaint with regards to your experience with our reception team please contact us at enquiries.pembrokehouse@nhs.net so that we can look into this further for you.
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Review titled Personalities excellent
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by jenny davis - Posted on 21 April 2023
Over the last few days I have interacted with multiple individuals and every one of them has responded with speed and sensibilities allowing me to move towards an improvement in my mental and physical health. Such kindness and understanding is much appreciated.
Visited April 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 16 May 2023
Thank you for taking time to provide a positive review for our practice. Your comments will be shared with the whole practice team and will be greatly appreciated by them.
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Review titled Not so easy contact
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Dave - Posted on 06 April 2023
I recently tried to speak to someone at the surgery with a couple of specific concerns. I would like to speak to someone so I can make myself understood better in person than a phone call. I was offered a complaint form. This was not helpful. I know you guys are busy but it is difficult to complete an online application. I have had to resort to writing to the doctor to get my message across. I hope things get better soon. I am still waiting for a doctor to phone me from last week. Help please. I know that the staff are working hard at their jobs but please remember we are people as well.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Pembroke Medical Group
Replied on 16 May 2023
Thank you for providing feedback. We are sorry to hear of your experience. We launched a clinical triage system on13 March 2023. This means that all requests for consultation will be screened by a GP and appointments will be offered with the appropriate healthcare professional within our team and will be based on clinical urgency. Ultimately this should provide improved accessibility for patients as, once you have made a request for a consultation, your request will be clinically triaged and you will be contacted by our team to organise an appointment with the appropriate healthcare professional within our team rather than being asked to call again the following day. The easiest way to request a consultation is online and this will avoid long waits on the telephone. However, if you do not have access to the internet or you find completion of the online form difficult you can contact our reception team on 01803 553558 and they will submit the request on your behalf by gathering the appropriate information from you. Like many other Practices in the UK, we are struggling to meet the current level of demand for our services. We will continue to do our best each day to deliver as many appointments as it is safe to do so. Ultimately, we do not have unlimited resources and are currently working to maximum safe capacity.