Regal Chambers Surgery - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Proactive service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 27 October 2023
I find all aspects of the service provided at Regal Chambers to be significantly better than at the previous GP surgery I attended in Letchworth. Much more proactive about helping me manage my health issues and I would definitely recommend the GP’s, nurses and reception staff - all of whom go above and beyond to help. The only minor criticism is that, when a referral to an NHS consultant at a local hospital keeps getting cancelled and rebooked months later, it is frustrating not to be able to message a GP about possibly getting referred elsewhere to be seen a little sooner given that it is a diagnostic appointment. Perhaps a general email address to write to that can be filtered by admin to allow a GP to address this sort of issue would be something they would consider as booking a telephone appt seems to be a waste of time for something that could be handled more swiftly via admin? Regardless, the support at this surgery has been much better than typical NHS support and that has been the case consistently since I joined in 2012. I would definitely recommend. Thank you all.
Visited September 2023
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 31 October 2023
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide this feedback. We will ensure that this is shared with the team. In response to the feedback about admin/referral queries, this kind of issue can be addressed by either speaking to the secretaries or using the online consultation to submit an "Admin Query".
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Review titled Statistical impossibilities...
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 31 December 2022
When I speak to the GP about symptoms and a potential cause I may have, the GP laughs and tells me that it is statistically impossible that I could have the condition and it is not worth their time carrying out any diagnostic checks. I should just see how I get on over time. Then some time later it turns out I do have the condition and it has gone untreated for a period of time and is now severe. This has happened to me several times with this GP. They are unwilling to do what needs to be done. An extremely poor service and a bad attitude. Letters are frequently lost by the reception staff and need to be replaced. Prescriptions are not issued until being asked several times. Doctors and nurses routinely turn up late for appointments, even at the start of the day. I do not feel in safe hands here.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 04 January 2023
Thank you for providing this feedback. I am sorry if you have not been happy with the service provided by the surgery. We are not aware of the issues that have been raised and it is difficult to investigate when feedback provided is anonymous. We would be happy to investigate this as a formal complaint if you wish to provide the details to the Business Manager.
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Review titled Good Service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by John Cotton - Posted on 18 August 2022
I like the ring back service to speak to reception. The call from the doctor gave me useful information about my condition.
Visited August 2022
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 18 August 2022
Thank you very much for taking the time to post this positive review. This has been shared with all members of our team.
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Review titled nurses are superstars
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by sean - Posted on 04 August 2022
been having to see the nurses daily for weeks and they have been such a godsend. doctors have been supportive and understanding and shown compassion. really made a positive impact in my life and helped me so much
Visited August 2022
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 04 August 2022
Many thanks for taking the time to provide this positive review - I have passed this on to all members of the team.
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Review titled It’s a shame as the staff are working very hard
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 06 May 2022
I left a review recently stating the practice as unusable. Since then I have been in for my appointment and had a response from the surgery. Both of which helped to clarify a lot. I had several appointments one morning, whilst waiting, I heard the reception staff working and they did not stop for the entire time I was there, putting down the phone and immediately picking it up again all morning. It is a shame, being ill I just want help, being on the other end of the phone ringing in every day for 2 weeks I overlooked the fact that someone is working very hard on the other end. However, that they have so many patients it is this busy still poses that it is virtually unusable. On this point, when I did finally get through, I was offered an appointment in a months time or the next day if I used eConsult. Why this is the case is unknown. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist in person I got an appointment that day. During this appointment I was asked to book a follow up with the receptionist, upon saying this was unlikely to happen because of the difficulty booking, the doctor immediately booked me one on their system. Maybe this could be procedural, that the doctor books their own follow up appointments freeing the lines even just a little bit? I understand that when the surgery has maxed out, the message immediately informs of this, but my issue is listening to the doctors message just to find out there is a queue or potential call back. Maybe instead of having to wait through 2-3minutes of the same message, that has now lost meaning and is all but ignored, you could, firstly, put this message after joining the queue, or as you answer the phone when getting a call back? Secondly, as part of the waiting music, include various messages highlighting the investments and efforts made to deal with the issues the surgery faces? Done well, this could help provide insight and understanding. And thirdly, do not say on your message that the surgery has closed for lunch, be specific and say that the receptionists are taking this time to do essential bookings and follow ups (admin). I dont want it to be an excuse, but to highlight a problem I face, my mental health issues make me very anxious and I do not reach out until desperate enough to do so. Then to be met with such difficulty booking compounds my feelings of anxiety and desperation and I become impatient and frustrated. I feel like I have to remain ill as I know I likely wont have this same drive to call back again, often making serious problems worse, or having to endure the milder ones, not the surgeries fault, but something I find hard very hard to overcome - unfortunately this is indicative of the NHS’ resources to deal with mental health and not the surgeries fault, but one that likely affects the surgery as I imagine others have similar problems. Still, I am more understanding of the issues they face, and I will make efforts to remember this. I appreciate the staffs work and efforts.
Visited May 2022
Regal Chambers Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Impossible to get an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 30 September 2022
On almost every occasion I have tried to get an appointment all I can access is a message which tells me the doctors have gone past their capacity and I should call another day.
Visited May 2022
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 06 October 2022
We are sorry that you have experienced difficulty in accessing an appointment. Despite recently recruiting to our GP, nurse and reception team, we continue to experience significant demand for appointments. The British Medical Association (BMA) guidelines recommend a maximum of 20 contacts per GP per day. Our doctors provide in excess of that and we therefore monitor the number of patients that can be seen in order to ensure that we can provide a safe service both for patients and our staff. We have updated the message that is activated on the telephones once we have reached that limit to make patients aware that they can still book routine appointments with our nursing team colleagues i.e. long term condition reviews, smear tests, vaccinations etc. If a patient feels that their condition is medically urgent and that they need advice that day, there is the option of holding on the line to speak to reception. In these circumstances, reception will speak to the on-call doctor to seek advice. I trust this information is helpful. It is difficult to respond to anonymous feedback; if you would like this further investigated then please do not hesitate to contact the Business Manager.
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Review titled Poor practice where patients as seen as nuisance
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 April 2022
They got a new triage telephone system where you phone the reception, then a doctor calls you back the same day, in the theory. Fast forward couple years. 45 minutes or more minutes on hold just to get through to the reception. If you finally get though by some miracle, then you leave your details and the surgery doctor supposed to call you back. When they first introduced this system, doctor would actually call on the same day. Now you get a message that the doctor will call you by the end of the next day. Fair enough if they actually did that. If you miss their call, they would not call you again or leave a voice message. Time wasted on both sides... If you go with online consultation, it is the same non personal approach. Receptionist are still unhelpful, they fail to follow the system that was set up, so they no longer can refuse patients to speak to doctors, I suspect. It is the worst surgery that I have been with. The last surgery I have been with was one doctor surgery in London, with walk-in every day, doctor always had seen me on the day, saved my loved ones lives. I dread to think what would happen if I ever need quick, life saving actions from this surgery, with incompetent reception staff, doctors refusing to refer to specialists or tests when requested or required. It is a constant battle with their unfriendly systems and staff that is not really providing any service. They built these systems so they can alienate patients and separate themselves from providing services that they supposed to do, seeing and treating patients. I don't even want to go into their rule for the appointment: 'one patient, one symptom'. What sort of illness has just one symptom? They fail to understand, that a human body is one biological entity and often more symptoms or illnesses can appear at the same time, and looking through this rule and simplifing it, serious illnesses can be missed. I don't have any trust in this surgery and ability to treat patients in timely manners, as they do not offer any routine check ups, or tests, unless coming from other source.
Visited April 2022
Review titled Regal Chambers Surgery
Replied on 05 April 2022
I am sorry to read that you have not been satisfied with the service provided by Regal Chambers Surgery. We strive to provide high quality care and it would not be our intention to alienate patients or make services difficult to access. Over the past few months we have been experiencing significant demand for appointments as well as managing increased levels of sickness across the team (both covid and non covid related). We have had to reduce capacity on some days to ensure that we provide a safe service to patients. This may therefore have meant that non urgent calls were postponed to the next working day. We changed our appointment system in May 2019 from a sit & wait clinic to a telephone triage service. All patients are required to speak to a clinician in the first instance. Some issues can be managed satisfactorily on the phone; if patients need to be seen, they are booked in according to urgency i.e. given a same day appointment or within a timescale that is deemed to be clinically necessary. This system allows the practice to manage demand and ensure that patients with medically urgent symptoms are seen quickly. Whilst the appointment system will not suit all patients, the vast majority of our patients report that they are happy with this system. It is difficult to respond to anonymous feedback. We would be happy to respond formally to any concerns if you would like to raise specific issues directly with the practice.