Ashfield Surgery
8 Walmley Road, Sutton Coldfield, B76 1QNContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Difficult to get an appointment
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 13 May 2025
I was triaged and an appointment offered. However, I needed to reschedule this appointment - the only option was to cancel. Once, I had cancelled the appointment I then called the surgery to rebook (after 40 minutes of waiting on the phone) - I was told I would have to go through triage again! I then submitted a request to triage and the GP asked for photos rather than offering an appointment, even though I clearly stated I was trying to reschedule an existing appointment. I submitted the photos as requested and have not heard back. This is such a waste of my time and your time. You should have an option to cancel and reschedule once an appointment has already been offered.
Visited May 2025
Ashfield Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Broken system
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 14 April 2025
It’s now 05.58 on Monday 14/04/2025 and I need to speak with a doctor to obtain a drug for a condition that is excruciatingly painful and it leaves me virtually unable to walk. I know the drug will relieve the condition within 48 hours so it’s relatively straightforward. I go online to make a telephone appointment for today only to find that I’m making a booking for tomorrow Tuesday 15/04/2025! The system is broken. The level of gatekeeping here makes a straightforward and quick appointment impossible. I can not wait until tomorrow due to the level of pain!!
Visited April 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Patient Thank you for getting in touch to share your experiences with our booking system. I am sorry to hear you have had difficulties in securing an appointment. Without knowing more about you and the problem, I am only able to provide a general response. From what you have shared in your comment, it implies that the appointment you require is an injection. Injections are not booked via the online service and instead you are advised to call the appointments line as normal to book these appointments. Further information on how to book specific appointments is available on our website; https://practice365.co.uk/m85026/health-information/appointments/ For appointments booked via the new online service, these are now all triaged and assigned an urgency level and an appropriate appointment offered either same day or up to four weeks in advance. In your case being offered an appointment next day means it was felt to be not life threatening but still required a prompt response by the end of the next day. As you appear to disagree with this decision, please feel free to get in touch with me so that I can review your case directly. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Confidential
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 April 2025
During an appointment today 2 other members of staff entered the room to get some equipment out of a cupboard. Neither acknowledged me as the patient. I feel this was very unprofessional.
Visited April 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Patient Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am sorry to hear that you were interrupted on two occasions during your appointment without any explanation or acknowledgement. Staff are instructed not to interrupt other clinicians during clinic times except when absolutely necessary. If it does occur then they should acknowledge the patient and apologise for the intrusion. Without a name and date/time of the incident I do not know exactly who was involved, I will however have further talks with all my staff regarding this. Thank you again for getting in touch. King Regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager.
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Review titled Great practice
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Mr Gary Murphy - Posted on 11 April 2025
Just moved into area registered with the new surgery got seen in 2 days and an appointment for my wife with dementia. Brilliant
Visited April 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you so much for getting in touch and leaving such a lovely message. I am so pleased to see your wife was able to be seen promptly. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Confusion with new online practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 06 March 2025
I needed to speak to a doctor or an associate about my high blood pressure after being told to return if it was over a a certain number . Questions on list were not relevant to me so l was given an appointment for two weeks time , like the lady in one review l had to say yes to some answers just to get a phone call or email back even though the answer was no . On enquiries the person l spoke to was quite rude and told me to go to A& E when l really needed blood pressure tablets and some answers from a doctor or associate I don’t need this extra stress in my life as l need to be well for my husband who has dementia . This needs to be reviewed for patients who are in similar circumstances
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 07 March 2025
Dear Patient I am sorry to hear you have had difficulties with out new online booking system. I am grateful for your feedback and will be sharing this with our clinical team at the next meeting. For blood pressure checks, I would advise you call the practice and book an appointment with one of our healthcare assistants. They can take a reading here in the practice and speak to the duty doctor immediately if it is high and requires treatment. Alternatively you can submit a question to the doctor via the 'Questions and Admin' section. The duty doctor may send you a form to submit your recent blood pressure readings in and then pass this onto your registered GP for review. I will share this with our reception team to ensure that in future the correct advise is passed onto callers in a similar situation. Thank you Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Worst practice
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 April 2025
Impossible to contact, very poor communication and correspondence. Very poor healthcare provision with no follow up. I have finally decided to change my GP surgery.
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Patient I am very sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction and your decision to change surgery. Regarding contacting the practice. There are various methods available to you to get in touch with us, our phone lines are open Monday to Friday. You can also leave non-urgent messages with the duty doctor via our online service. Our reception desk is managed all day and our team is here to help answer any questions you might have. The practice uses a variety of methods to communicate with patients, from direct calls, to text messages, emails and letters. The method of communication will depend on the contact details we have on file for you and your preference. Our clinicians will arrange follow ups with patients when they feel it is appropriate to do so. This will usually be discussed in your initial consultation with them. Without further information, I am unable to investigate what exactly you found poor with our service as you have not gone into any specific details. If you would like to discuss this matter further please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Privacy
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 March 2025
I am currently sitting in the doctors surgery, and a poor old lady has just come in wanting to book an appointment (she is on a zimmer frame) The receptionist started to take all of her details and ran through the new system questionnaire and literally everyone, could hear including those now in the queue and those sitting waiting for an appointment. This poor old lady was 80 years old!!!!Why oh why couldn't this lady be shown some dignity and respect? surely, the receptionist or another member of staff should have taken her into into a private area and then helped her complete the form As a society, have we really sunk so low that you can't show someone some compassion when they are struggling...
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Patient Thank you for bringing this incident to my attention. We understand that not all patients have access to the internet and cannot access the online form. For those patients our reception team can complete the form on their behalf, which does require our team to ask patients multiple health questions. For patients coming into the practice, we have a number of tablet computers available for patients to use to fill in the form. For patients that struggle with this, our team can sit with them to help complete it. Due to the personal nature of the questions, staff should absolutely not be asking these questions in the presence of other patients. I am shocked to hear you say that this is what occurred during your visit. While there may have been extenuating circumstances that you were not aware of at the time, and I lack information on the patient in question in order to respond to them directly. I have spoken to the reception team as a whole and reiterated the importance of maintaining confidentiality at the front desk. Thank you again for getting in touch. Warm Regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Online system
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Gaynor - Posted on 02 April 2025
An out of hours GP contacted me an hour after the receptionist said my appointment would be [from ashfurlong)he was only able to help a little and I will still need to book in at ashfield to see a doctor. The online questions need adapting more and a box where you can explain a bit more as bot every box fits the question.
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Gaynor Thank you for sharing your feedback with us on your recent experience with the booking system. Without knowing more information about your case I am unable to respond precisely. Telephone consultations from Ashfurlong are usually booked if the patient either requests a late evening appointment, or if the appointment request has come in later in the day, there are no appointments at the practice remaining and the duty doctor feels it cannot wait until the next day. The doctor will be able to assess over the telephone the urgency of your condition and advise on the best course of action. This may be attending A&E or waiting for a routine appointment here at the practice. I have shared your feedback with the team that manages our online booking system and I thank you for getting in touch. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Needs improvement
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Karen Robinson - Posted on 18 March 2025
I have had several experiences with the new booking system since it started. I have emailed the practice twice to inform them of a particular issue I had and I never had a response. My main argument is that the patient’s opinion is being disregarded. Speaking for myself I am quite confident that I can judge if I need to see a doctor and whether it is urgent or not. However my judgment isn’t taken into consideration. The tick boxes are not always relevant but there is no alternative to make an appointment. There is no comment box to expand on reason for appointment. There is no way to challenge a decision made about my appointment, it is made purely by me ticking boxes whether they were relevant or not. My own doctor is never offered for appointments and there is no avenue for me to make a pre bookable appointment with her. I am all for progress but I feel the practice has completely missed the needs of maybe not all but definitely some of their patients. I would urge you to listen to patients and tweak your new system to address their concerns. At the moment the system is very rigid and I think some flexibility needs to be introduced.
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Mrs Robinson Thank you for sharing your feedback with the practice. While we have spoken on the telephone regarding this matter I just wanted to respond to the points raised in your comment here. The triage system introduced in January this year was to address the long standing complaints we have received from patients regarding access to appointments, plus the long queues on the telephone and outside the practice in the morning. All incoming requests are now triaged and assigned an urgency level and an appropriate appointment offered either same day or up to four weeks in advance. Under the new system over half of all appointment requests are triaged automatically via the new system. The remaining requests are reviewed by our GP team here at the practice and appropriate appointments or signposting to other services given. While this may seem like a step back to some patients who are used to calling up in the morning and getting an appointment that day no matter the condition, the new system allows the practice to prioritise those patients in greater need and avoids the ‘first come, first serve’ lottery patients had to endure under the old system. Since the move to the new system we have seen significantly reduced waiting times for urgent cases and patients have more choice for appointment times for non-urgent requests. Once the form is complete, and you are presented with the option to book an appointment. There are filters on the screen you can select to specify which doctor you would like to see. If your preferred doctor is not visible then that means there are no appointments available with them at this time. I have shared your feedback with the team that manages our online booking system, specifically around including more options to choose from. Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback on this matter. We are constantly working with our IT provider to tweak the system to ensure it is working for all our patients. Warm regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager
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Review titled Booking an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 14 March 2025
I tried calling, nobody answered and all I got was the message to book online, the phone appointment I have is over 2 weeks away so urgency doesn't seem to be a priority. I don't agree on having to do everybody online as somethings you need to speak to a person. I rarely need an appointment so if I need to book one I might be needed. Just a thought
Visited March 2025
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 09 May 2025
Dear Patient Thank you for getting in touch and I am sorry to hear about your recent experience of the new booking system. The triage system introduced in January this year was to address the long standing complaints we have received from patients regarding access to appointments, the long queues on the telephone and outside the practice in the morning. All incoming requests are now triaged and assigned an urgency level and an appropriate appointment offered either same day or up to four weeks in advance. In your case an appointment of two weeks means it was felt to be non-urgent. As you appear to disagree with this decision, please feel free to get in touch with me so that I can review your case directly. While I understand the frustration some patients have with the new system, the change now allows the practice to prioritise patients in greater need and avoids the ‘first come, first serve’ lottery patients had to endure under the old system. Since the move to the new system we have seen significantly reduced waiting times for urgent cases and patients have more choice for appointment times for non-urgent requests. I would be happy to discuss your case in more detail with you if you get in touch to speak to me. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe, Practice Manager