The Dove Valley PMS Practice - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Serious contact problems
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 12 February 2024
Last week my wife saw one of the doctors and was told to call back ‘early next week’ to make an appointment with the same doctor for the following week, quite sensibly, as he would be familiar with the case. That means to me Monday or Tuesday. Today, Monday, we have probably made 50 calls between 0830 and 1745, the line constantly engaged. After finally speaking to an operator I was told that she was unable to make an appointment with a named doctor as the rotas for next week will not be published until Thursday of this week at the earliest, possibly Friday. So we now face the prospect of wasting another day trying to get through, and if I do, by the sounds of it theres no guarantee that the doctor will be available because at this point no one seems to know who will be working next week. So two points to make: 1. I know you're going to reply saying how busy you are and how difficult life is, and I do appreciate that, but the phones being constantly engaged has been a problem for years and it never improves. Something needs to be done to alleviate this, either more staff or more lines. If you really care about your patients you will do it. It’s not rocket science. 2. I just cannot believe that no one on reception is able to book a specific doctor one week in advance because there is no advance rota available. I am completely lost for words on this. It’s as if it was deliberately designed to make life as difficult as possible for the patient. I just don’t understand how you can function like this - it’s sloppy and unprofessional. I assume the doctors know when they're on duty more than a couple of days in advance, so why not make the details available. My extensive experience of compiling work rotas tells me that the further in front these things are published, the happier everyone is. Dove Valley medical staff are fine, no problems, but I’ve complained before about the poor admin, and from reading reviews, I’m not the only person to have a problem with this. Please get a grip on things.
Visited February 2024
Review titled The Dove Valley PMS Practice
Replied on 05 March 2024
Thank you for your comments and we are sorry that you feel dissatisfied with our service. Four million more GP appointments a month are being delivered for patients compared to the same month before the pandemic. Published data shows more than 31.4 million appointments (excluding vaccinations) were delivered by GP practices in November 2023, making it the busiest November on record for GP teams. More than two fifths (42.6%) of appointments were booked and attended on the same day, up 3.3% on the previous month and almost seven in ten appointments were attended within seven days of booking, up 4.5% on the previous month. Other appointments such as vaccinations and routine follow up appointments are booked further in advance. As a whole, the system is under sufficient pressure at the moment and as a practice we offer around 6000 appointments every month. This is significantly above the national and local average. The minimum wage is rising by nearly 10% again from April 2024 and inflation has been at around 10% for a while and although it is gradually falling, it remains at around 4%. You may then ask why the baseline GP contract is being increased by only 1.9% in 2024/25 and how practices are expected to provide the quality of service they would like, without the resources to do so. GP Partners are having to fund the shortfall, and practices are even having to close due to them not being viable financially. GP practices sub-contract to the NHS, they need to pay their staff and manage their surgery buildings. Equipment and supplies are increasing in price and practices have limited ‘non-NHS services’ that they can increase the fees for. We would like to have more staff, more ‘phone lines, and be able to offer more appointments to our patients, but all this needs resourcing and at the moment this is not possible. If you feel frustrated by this or would like to try and make a change, please lobby your local member of parliament. Thank you.
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Review titled Poor service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 19 January 2024
It's virtually impossible to get through on the phone lines, when you get through there is never any appointments and told to try the next day and the reception staff are rude
Visited January 2024
Review titled The Dove Valley PMS Practice
Replied on 06 February 2024
Dear patient, thank you for your feedback and we are sorry to hear that you have have found it difficult to get through to the practice. The system is under sufficient pressure at the moment, as a practice we offer around 6000 appointments every month. This is significantly above the national and local average. We see between 50-100 patients for same day appointments every day, but we appreciate that this is often not enough. As a practice we would like to offer every patient that wants one, an appointment on that day, but it is impossible. Your comments about the reception staff have been fed back to the team leaders. Kind regards, Dove Valley Practice
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Review titled Obtuse Receptionist
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 September 2023
The receptionist phoned to arrange the date of a blood test,I explained that one had already been booked and had to be kept on a specific date, unfortunately the new test was after this cut off date.This was to keep in line with the current treatment plan that I am on, so as to not void the plan. When I asked for clarification, her very sharp,rude response was- “so you’re refusing a blood test”, obviously I wasn’t. The rest of the phone call continued in this vain. Unfortunately the receptionist was rude, seemed judgmental, and extremely obtuse. She made no effort what so ever to be polite or understanding, which is in sharp contrast to the receptionist that I deal with regularly in Sheffield.
Visited September 2023
Review titled The Dove Valley PMS Practice
Replied on 06 October 2023
Dear patient. Thank you for your feedback and we are very sorry that you felt unhappy with the service provided by the practice. If you would like this to be investigated in further detail please follow the practice's complaints procedure. However, this will be discussed at the next staff meeting to highlight the concerns to the reception staff.
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Review titled Unacceptable
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Disgruntled - Posted on 12 July 2023
I do not appreciate being lied to by the receptionists at this practice. I have had major surgery and need dressing changes 3 times a week. I was told that they couldn't do anything for 4 weeks. I tried again a week later after being resigned to having to wait the 4 weeks and up until this point continue to use the hospital. I was informed the second time of asking that they don't do dressing changes. I now have to try and see if I can use the district nurse clinics but they don't have them enough times a week for my needs. I am left with no other option than to try and do the dressings at home. Let's hope I don't get an infection in my open wound. The service is totally unacceptable at best. I will not be leaving this unanswered as I will be making a formal complaint.
Visited July 2023
Review titled The Dove Valley PMS Practice
Replied on 17 July 2023
Good afternoon, thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear that you feel disappointed with our service. Unfortunately, post operative dressing changes are not something that we are commissioned to do in general practice, these would need to be arranged with the district nursing service, which is a separate organisation. If you wish to make a complaint you can find details at https://www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2163-Customer-services-leaflet-A5-V4-August-2021.pdf
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Review titled Disappointed & Lacing Trust in Them
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 August 2022
I used to think that Dove Valley Practice were the best practice on the planet. But not any more. I lack trust in them now. After seeing a Paramedic person in May 2022 to be told she would refer me to physio, but she failed to do that. I had to chase it up in August 2022. I did get it referred immediately but that was due to my persistence. I had a telephone appointment with a Gp I needed to speak to them. I was told they would ring me sometime in the Afternoon. I didn’t get to the phone in time. Had I have had a time slot like with a face to face appointment then I would have had the phone in my hand & been able to speak with him. I phoned back within minutes, I was told he would ring me back, but he never did. I visited the surgery as I needed a prescription from the Gp for my problem. I was told there was nothing they could do as I missed the call. Try iHeart Barnsley or visit the chemist. The chemist could give me a £18.00 solution for my problem, But I had to see the Gp to get the solution on prescription. I had no choice but to pay the £18.00 out as I needed the treatment. Something needs to change. I don’t mind having a telephone appointment, but I need a time slot please. Not sometime in the afternoon. Also there are a lot Of new reception staff at this practice. They are nothing like the old staff. Why all of a sudden are the staff asking Why we need to see or speak to a Gp. That is my business. I feel that I am capable of ringing for a Gp appointment because I have something wrong with me, I am not ringing to waste the time of the Gp. The appointment system needs to change with regards to the time slot. It cannot be an open time slot. If appointments can be sent from Barnsley Hospital with a time to ring them on then this practice can do The same. I have no faith in this practice any more. This practice has a lot of new medical staff too, some of whom are not actually Gp’s I fully understand that the medical practice is changing & there are new schemes being implemented, but the schemes need to actually work for it to be trusted & accepted as the normal way that the practice works
Visited August 2022
Review titled The Dove Valley PMS Practice
Replied on 24 August 2022
Good afternoon. Your comments were discussed at our weekly practice meeting and we have decided to change our booking system to ensure that patients are given a shorter time slot for telephone consultations, we appreciate that a 'morning' or 'afternoon' slot may not be convenient for most of our patients. Our reception staff have been asked to follow a flowchart to ensure that patients are booked in with the most relevant clinician/service however, if a patient does not wish to disclose information about why they need an appointment their wishes will be respected. You are quite right that we have a wider range of clinicians than we used to have, and not just GPs seeing patients. The additional roles scheme was introduced in England in 2019 as a key part of the government’s manifesto commitment to improve access to general practice. The aim of the scheme is to support the recruitment of 26,000 additional staff into general practice. We are sorry that you feel dissatisfied with our service and hope that the changes we have made will help to improve your future experiences at Dove Valley Practice.