Upperthorpe Medical Centre - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
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Review titled Lethargic service and no appointment via phone or online
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 November 2022
I waited for half an hour to connect over the phone for an appointment and in the end no result. When asked for an appointment they said to come tomorrow morning at 9 am. Their online portal I have requested multiple times for online appointment service by filling out the form but it was never through. Now they said till next year online appointment itself is not possible. Phone booking is useless. It's like living in 30 years back when you need to visit a clinic mere to taking an appointment and that is of some other date. This is not the first time, many times in the past also this has happened. Regarding the front desk staff, what should I say I went there to ask for a printout of my report and they denied it by saying they are too busy now. Hospital is a place people won't visit by wish and if these kinds of people we need to deal with it is painful to experience. If people don't want to work and better leave that job and don't make other people suffer for their ignorance.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Upperthorpe Medical Centre
Replied on 29 November 2022
We've read your review and would very much like to look into this further. As your review is anonymous we can't contact you directly. We are not sure what report you have requested and also what online portal you have used to contact us. We'd like to find out more about this so we can see what has happened and try to help. Please contact the Practice by phone or letter and leave your details for the Reception Manager - she is expecting your call and will phone you back as soon as she can to try to help. Many thanks, Practice Manager.
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Review titled Unbelievable!
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 02 November 2022
Got message from GP surgery today to remind me to book a smear test as it has been over due . I rang in today , was told the earliest appointment is 3rd January 2023 . I was in shock . I asked the receptionist if any early appointments early than that . He told me it’s not life threatening and I was told to contact Royal hallamshire hospital if I want an early appointment! Unbelievable!! The GP surgery has been always quite good with appointments. I fully understand the workload changed post COVID . I appreciated all the health professionals working hard for the general public . But It used to be few weeks from the point of ringing in but now two months!! What has changed?!
Visited November 2022
Upperthorpe Medical Centre has not yet replied.
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Review titled Some reception staff are not supportive or helpful
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Bethany - Posted on 19 October 2022
On multiple occasion's the reception staff have been rude or just generally not helpful and it is making me feel uncomfortable with approaching the surgery for support with my health concerns. I rang with a UTI and rather than helping me like they usually would they just told me to keep ringing back each day and try get an appointment. When I called the next day a different person answered and told me that it should have been dealt with when I rang the first time. This shows the training in clearly not adequate or some staff are not doing what they should be to help. And again I rang today requesting an appointment to discuss my results with my GP and look at further options for my situation after ringing previous days and not being able to get an appointment. Rather than the reception staff being helpful with fulfilling my request or stating there were none like previous days they just said 'it's normal' I said 'what's normal?' they said 'your results' to which I responded 'but I wasn't asking to discuss my results with you, I have been told to book in with my doctor to discuss the results and the next steps to working out what is wrong'. They completely disregarded my request and I felt they were quite rude and blunt, it was as if they weren't even listening to what I had asked. I completely understand that GP surgeries are extremely stretched at the moment but when it comes to health concerns and how people, such as myself, are feeling about their potential future, it really is not hard to show some compassion and listen to your patients. Please look to hire staff that are compassionate and caring, we need more staff in positions such as this to support people. No body wants to have to call the doctors and attend appointments. It's extremely anxiety provoking for me to do this and each negative experience with reception staff, doctors, GPs and nurses puts me off and triggers me when I need to do it again. It has taken me years to get to a point where I am able to ask for help, I would usually just suffer through whatever I had going on. Your staff should not be hindering me further when I have already hindered myself enough.
Visited October 2022
Review titled Upperthorpe Medical Centre
Replied on 19 October 2022
We're sorry to hear about your experience phoning our Practice. Our reception staff do try very hard to help patients and we want everyone to feel comfortable approaching us. It sounds like there is some learning we can take from your comments and we do want to improve where we can. If you feel able to phone the Practice and leave your contact details for me then I would be very happy to phone you to discuss further. We hope that you will not be put off from contacting us in the future. Kind regards, Practice Manager.
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Review titled Booking is nearly impossible
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 18 August 2022
I was sent a text telling me that I needed to book an appointment 'at your earliest convenience' as two test I needed were overdue. I had not previously been told that I'd need any tests in August. I phoned 2 minutes after the text arrived. I had expected it to be in October. I waited 20 minutes on the phone ( had to take time out of work to wait in the queue). The receptionist told me that the nurse appointments were fully booked so an appointment couldn't be booked and I would need to ring back in early September. I stress that I rang 2 minutes after I received the test. I understand that appointments are hard to get at the moment and this isn't my feedback. Rather it is that the surgery contacted ME to tell me to book an appointment, I quickly did as requested, waited 20 minutes only to be told that there are no appointments and I'd need to phone back in two weeks. I was also told it was not urgent and could wait. This was different to the information in the text that I was sent. Why send out a text telling a patient to book an appointment when the surgery already knows that there are no appointments to book!
Visited August 2022
Review titled Upperthorpe Medical Centre
Replied on 31 August 2022
Thank you for your comments. We would very much like to look into this further as it sounds like our usual system has not been followed. You are absolutely right that we don't want to send messages to patients asking them to book in if there are no appointments available. We're not sure what has happened in this instance and without your details we cannot find out who sent the text and why. We'd like to apologise for the inconvenience we have caused to you. If you feel able, please could you contact the Practice and leave your details and I will phone you back to get more information. We will then be able to find out what has happened and see where our system has gone wrong and make the necessary changes. Many thanks and I hope to speak to you soon, Practice Manager.
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Review titled Terrible Appointment Availability and Booking System
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 29 July 2022
The practice opens at 7am. I ring at 9am (2 hours into the opening) on a Friday to book an appointment. I am 16th in the queue when I get on the line. I wait for 30 minutes, only to be told when a person speaks to me that all appointments for that day are booked, they do not book future appointments, and I have to ring again on Monday. This is completely ridiculous. What a total waste of my time that I had to take out from work; why not leave a message on the hold line to tell people all appointments for that day are booked? What are the receptionists going to be doing for the rest of the day if they are taking 16 calls at any one time and have nothing to offer people. Friday is my quiet work day and I can't just ring on the morning of any day to get an appointment, tell my boss 'I don't know how long the phone call will take, I don't know if it'll even get me an appointment, and I don't know if the appointment will be today'. I, like lots of other people, have to give others in my life some notice when I am not going to be available. Sort it out.
Visited July 2022
Review titled Upperthorpe Medical Centre
Replied on 08 August 2022
Thank you for your comments. We realise it can be difficult to get an appointment at our Practice and frustrating when all appointments for the day have gone. We like your idea about having a message on the phones when this happens to prevent patients continuing to hold and we did talk to our phone company about this previously. They said at that time it was not possible but we will look at that idea again. Our doctors are working incredibly long hours but demand for appointments far outweighs what they can offer. We are looking at new ways of working including how best to use the available online systems and we will update our website with any changes to the ways we are working and will also text patients when there are significant changes. We have a team looking at the options for online access at the moment. We have also recruited extra staff including new roles such as Pharmacists and Physician Associates and have further recruitment taking place currently. Regarding the Practice opening at 7am on Fridays, that initially confused us as we have not opened at that time on Fridays for a few years. Wednesday and Thursday are our early opening days for pre-bookable appointments. However, your comments helped us discover that one of the NHS websites has the wrong opening hours for us – we submit our opening hours to them each year but it looks like the data has not been updated since 2018. We have contacted them to highlight this and to ask that they change their website. Thank you for taking the time to leave your comments which we have found really useful. Kind regards, Practice Manager.