Cator Medical Centre
Beckenham Beacon, 379 Croydon Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 3FDContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Poor appointment system
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 April 2023
Had a Saturday appt at Beckenham Beacon Cator Centre but needed to cancel on the day. There was no way of cancelling or speaking to an operator on a Saturday, couldn’t reschedule. Was trying to do the right thing but with no staff available on a Saturday it was impossible. Why offer Sat appts if you don’t have staff at the Cator Centre to man the calls??? Time wasting for doctors if they can’t be informed of cancellations!!!
Visited April 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 20 July 2023
Dear Patient, Thank you for your feedback comments. I am sorry you weren't able to cancel your appointment on the Saturday in question. Saturday appointments held here at Cator Medical Centre are made via the Bromley PCN (Primary Care Network). Once an appointment has been booked the PCN confirm the booking by sending a mobile phone text with a link embedded in the message so if patients need to cancel the appointment they can do so automatically without needing to ring anyone. If you could email me with your details (full name, date of birth, address and NHS number), I will check your records to see if a text was sent to you or not. Our email address is: SELicb.CatorReception@nhs.net Kind regards, Geoff Cook, Patient Liaison Officer Cator Medical Officer
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Review titled Poor appointment management
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 14 April 2023
Had some blood tests done recently, results were sent to me by text (that you cannot reply to) and was asked to call and make a routine telephone appointment. Called to do this and was told that no advance appointments could be booked for either Telephone or in person and made no difference if urgent or routine. I was told to call at 8am to book a routine telephone appointment. This is absolutely unhelpful to all as the lines are extremely busy and sometimes am not able to call at that time due to travelling to work or being at work. This system needs to change drastically as there will be people who will never be able to make an appointment. The system for advance booking needs to be reinstated - routine appointments for the future whether by telephone or in person should be made by anyone calling at anytime not just at 8am. I understand if you want an urgent same day appointment to call at 8am, but you still have a poor chance to get one that day anyway if you can ever get through, but those like me that was told by the GP to call and book a routine appointment should be able to do that and book something for somewhere within the next 3 weeks or so. The GP obviously was not aware of this issue as they did not mention it. Please please please reinstate the system whereby a patient can call at any time for a routine appointment - either telephone or in person and save the 8am time slot for those that need more urgent help. If you do not then you run the risk of patients suffering harm due to this incompetant system. You are also sending more people to A&E as they cannot get help from you. Perhaps this is a way of reducing your patient list ?? However I would like to say then when I have seen a member of the team either a GP or a Nurse (Whose appointments you can book in advance apparently) I have had excellent treatment. It is just a shame that their good work is being undermined by the appalling appointment management.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 14 July 2023
Dear Patient, thank you for your feedback comments. We are sorry that you have experienced difficulties with our appointment system and therefore have passed your comments on to our management team who are currently reviewing how we manage appointments so that we can improve the patient experience. To put your mind at rest, we can assure you we continue to accept new patients to the practice and, although it may seem like it, we can confirm that we are not using our present booking system to reduce our patient list. It is good to know that the care you receive from our clinicians has been a positive one as we appreciate positive feedback as well as constructive feedback to help us provide the high level of care we strive to achieve.
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Review titled No appointments
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Lori Saunders - Posted on 03 April 2023
So apparently you can no longer book a routine appointment, tried calling, no answer for an hour and then no appointments. Tried the website no appointment. It's ridiculous that you cannot book an appointment in advance or on the day really. This used to be a wonderful doctors but this is now the worst practice in the borough
Visited March 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 14 July 2023
Dear Lori, thank you for your feedback about trying to book an appointment at the surgery. I am really sorry that you have experienced difficulties in negotiating our current system of booking appointments. In light of your comments, and those made by other patients who have experienced similar difficulties, we are currently conducting an urgent review of the overall appointment booking system so that we can improve the patient experience for everyone. We hope that the new system will re-instate your confidence in the practice and that it will enable us to provide the high level of service we am to provide all our patients. Please be assured that your comments will be considered in our review to help us improve the new current booking system. With many thanks and kind regards, Geoff Cook Patient Liaison Officer, Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Problems making contact
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Lindy Grant - Posted on 27 March 2023
I hoped to make an appointment to check a couple of health issues, but was told that appointments could only be made by ringing on the day at 8am. This is too inconvenient. I was sent a text to make an appointment for a general health check up. I was at a conference at the time, and the link was only valid for two days - so now I am unable to make my appointment. I have tried to do so using the NHS on-line service, but this just goes round in circles. Very disappointing, and I am considering changing to another practice.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 19 July 2023
Dear Lindy, thank you for your feedback regarding the problems you've experienced in making contact with us. I am sorry that you have had difficulty with our appointment system and I apologise for the delay in replying to you. At the time when you made your comments, we were trying to improve our service in order to best meet clinical needs by introducing a book on the day only appointments system. This was a temporary measure while we addressed a real crisis in staffing levels which meant we needed to optimise whatever appointments we could offer to their full potential. We were also experiencing a lot of patients not fulfilling their appointments when booking ahead which meant we had a high number of wasted appointments. We have been listening to our staff and importantly our patient’s comments, all of which were discussed at our Business Meeting on 14th April 2023. Accordingly we have decided to revert to having some forward booking appointments for each GP. We have also decided to send out warning letters to patients who do not attend their pre-booked appointment. It should be noted that these appointments will still go very quickly and we continue to seek a better system to meet the demand. If you are still having problems with booking an appointment or need help with the NHS on-line booking service, please contact me and I will look into this for you. We are really grateful for the comments we receive from our patients as we strive to provide a high level of care to all our patients and I wish to take this opportunity to thank you very much for your views. I do hope that you feel able to bear with us as we try to resolve our own appointments issue which is reflected across the country and that you do decide to continue to be a much valued patient at the surgery. With many thanks and kind regards, Geoff Cook, Patient Liaison Officer Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Booking problems and no medication available
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 05 April 2023
I have been a patient at this surgery for several years with a long term condition and could usually get an appointment if needed. Appointments were released throughout the day. Now I was told that they do not do "advanced appointments" or emergency appointments and everybody has to call at 8am or visit and once appointments are gone that is it. Instead of making an appointment I thus ended up using e consult. Unfortunately I was prescribed a prescription medication that is not currently available! Disappointing. I feel this surgery has gone downhill.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 14 July 2023
Dear Patient, thank you for your feedback comments. We are sorry that you have experienced difficulties with our appointment system and that you feel our level of service has dropped. We are currently reviewing our appointments booking system and, as we value constructive feedback from our patients, we will include your comments as part of that improvement process. If your prescription issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, please can you either ring or email us (our email address is on our website) with the details so we can resolve this for you. Once again, thank you for taking the time to bring these matters to our attention. Kind regards, Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Appointment Mayhem
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 24 March 2023
Tried making doctors appointment for a future date, was told practice no longer doing that?? Reception explained I could ring every day at 8am to get same day appointment but no appointments were being made for future dates. Didn't want to take urgent appointment and felt future date would suit me better as I work full time and can plan better if I have a date and time booked ahead. Reception advised this is something new they were told to do and there doesn't appear to be a time limit on it. Surely we should be able to book an appointment in advance?
Visited March 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 19 July 2023
Dear Patient, thank you for your feedback regarding the problems you've experienced in booking an appointment at the surgery. I am sorry that you have had difficulty with our appointment system and I apologise for the delay in replying to you. At the time when you made your comments, we were trying to improve our service in order to best meet clinical needs by introducing a book on the day only appointments system. This was a temporary measure while we addressed a real crisis in staffing levels which meant we needed to optimise whatever appointments we could offer to their full potential. We were also experiencing a lot of patients not fulfilling their appointments when booking ahead which meant we had a high number of wasted appointments. We have been listening to our staff and importantly our patient’s comments, all of which were discussed at our Business Meeting on 14th April 2023. Accordingly we have decided to revert to having some forward booking appointments for each GP and are now actively looking at overhauling our whole appointment system to improve the service we offer our patients. We have also started to send out warning letters to patients who do not attend their pre-booked appointment. It should be noted that these appointments will still go very quickly and we continue to seek a better system to meet the demand. I hope that you managed to eventually book an appointment but, if you are still having problems, please do not hesitate to contact me or send your details (full name, date of birth, address and NHS number) by email to the surgery, and we will look into this for you. We are really grateful for the comments we receive from our patients as we strive to provide a high level of care to all our patients. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for your views and for being a valued patient at the surgery. Kind regards, Geoff Cook, Patient Liaison Officer Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Great doctors
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Joanne Reeves - Posted on 03 February 2023
I think the drs are great when you can get appointments as they are very helpful understanding and are able to explain things in a way that I can understand when needed . I had a appointment at end of January In which I had certain things explained to me in a way that I was able to understand better
Visited January 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 06 February 2023
Thank you for taking the time to leave us this positive feedback. Your comments have been passed onto the practice team who are delighted to learn that you are pleased with the service provided by us. Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Bizarre booking system
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 10 January 2023
I have called two days in a row to book an appointment for my son but it seems the practice only releases appointments for the same day. I understand the practice is likely very busy, but I don't see how expecting everyone to scramble for a free appointment each morning solves this issue. Tomorrow morning I will have to call again and wait in the phone queue in the hopes we can get an appointment (which I will then probably have to take my son out of school to make). If I want an appointment, I may end up taking one from someone who's need is more urgent, just because I got through their phone system sooner. The system doesn't make sense.
Visited January 2023
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 06 February 2023
Thank you for taking the time to leave us this review. I can see that you have left your comments anonymously. I would be grateful if you could e-mail us further details of your complaint to selicb.catorfeedback@nhs.net. As a practice we do offer routine appointments, pre-bookable up to 6 weeks ahead. These appointments are very popular and do get booked up quickly. Alternatively you may telephone the practice at 8:00am for an appointment on the same day - the need does not have to be urgent. We have largely received positive patient feedback regarding our revised system of making most appointments bookable on the day, either online, in person or on the telephone. We have also noticed a significant improvement in missed appointments as a result of this. We continually review our access arrangements and shall take your feedback on board. Kind regards, Cator Medical Centre
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Review titled Very Good Practice, however
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Tony - Posted on 05 December 2022
have recently tried to call to arrange a same day appointment for my 85 year old mother, and was unsuccessful. Today tipped the balance when called from 8.00am sharp until my phone ran out of battery at 9.50am. Surely this is unacceptable
Visited December 2022
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 07 December 2022
Thank you for taking the time to leave us this feedback. We are very sorry to hear of your difficulties in trying to obtain a same day appointment for your mother. Our practices, like all practices, are currently experiencing unprecedented numbers of phone calls (yesterday we took in excess of 800), largely due to the Strep A outbreak. Our team are doing their absolute best to answer calls as quickly as they can, but waiting times will remain affected as patient contacts and service demand considerably outweighs resource at the present time. We are doing all we can to look at temporarily re-modelling our service delivery, so as to improve access for patients. For now, as an alternative, please come down to the Practice at 8am or use E-consult via the website. Thank you.
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Review titled Terrible people skills from receptionist
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 09 December 2022
Our family has been with actor medical for around a year, and we usually have never had any problems. We have recently moved houses, which is just over an hour away from the medical centre. Due to registering at a new doctors takes 3 weeks, we needed an emergency appointment for our our 11 month old, who had been unwell for the past 5 days with a fever, cough and possible ear infection as he keeps holding his ears. We phoned cator medical centre today to book an emergency appointment. We where greeted by an extremely rude and arrogant receptionist. We asked if it was possible for an appointment today for him. I’m a rude tone, she said 1015. My wife tried to explain that we live over an hour away. Would it be possible for something slightly later. Her reply was well if it’s an emergency for your son you’ll make it. What a poor lack of empathy from a doctors surgery. The journey from crawley to beckenham is at least an hour. To get an 11 month old ready takes at least 10 to 15 minutes. We called in December. Our car is frosted which will also take 10 mins to defrost so we can get there safely. We called at 0915. Clearly this wasn’t possible. My wife tried to explain but the receptionist just didn’t want to listen. What a terrible let down for the service.
Visited December 2022
Review titled Cator Medical Centre
Replied on 06 February 2023
Thank you for taking the time to leave us this review. We are extremely sorry to learn that you have been unhappy with the service provided by us of late, most notably the interaction you had with a member of our reception team. Your comments have been passed onto the Reception Manager who will investigate them accordingly, and provide refresher customer care training to her team members. Cator Medical Centre