Westbury Group Practice - Ratings and reviews
Reviews
-
Review titled Trainee gp completely useless and incompetent
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 March 2024
It was the surgery that messaged me to make a face to face appt re my heart condition. When arrived trainee gp had no idea why i was there. Looked at me as if i had dementia when told i didnt know why i had to have appt. Merely took blood pressure and then fobbed off when tried to discuss other issues possibly relating to heart medication such as excessive coughing. Told thats not what your here for today make an appt next week even though she admitted it could be related to heart meds. Trainee gp merely took blood pressure and heart rate something nurse coukd have done. But pointless as have cardiologist appt in 4 days anyway
Visited March 2024
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 02 April 2024
Good morning, Thank you for taking the time to offer the surgery your feedback. I am sorry to hear that you felt your recent appointment was not satisfactory; please accept my apologies for any upset you felt. I would like the opportunity to investigate your concerns but, of course, I would need your details to do this. If you would like me to do this please can I suggest you email me at bswicb.wgppatientvoice@nhs.net. Please ensure you include your full name and address and date of birth in any email. Please also mark it for my attention. Best regards Craig Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead White Horse Health Centre
-
Review titled Not a practice I would recommend
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 April 2023
You cannot book any sort of appointment in advance at this surgery. Even if you are elderly, have been suffering from a worrying symptom for weeks, and though you have tried self medicating it hasn't improved, you still cannot make an appointment. You have to ring first thing in the morning, sit in a queue and then be told at the end of a long wait that there are no appointments left and try again tomorrow. Even if you take th time to travel to the surgery you are stone walled by the reception team who, it seems, are qualified to decide whether you deserve to see a GP and will even suggest you see the pharmacist without having any idea of whether your symptoms are potentially life threating. Horrendous and ridiculous system. I hope people take them to the courts for negligence. Not all surgeries do this with many allowing those with non urgent but worrying symptoms being able to book ahead. Sad thing for those in Westbury is that this is the only practice - there is no alternative. This practice has always had the monopoly in Westbury, and it has simply got worse in the 40 plus years I have lived in the area. Thumbs down from me
Visited April 2023
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 11 April 2023
Good morning, Thank you for taking the time to offer us your feedback; I am very sorry to learn of the difficulties you have experienced when contacting the surgery to book an appointment. The majority of our appointments are booked ’on the day’ but we are looking to increase the number of appointments we have for booking in advance, over the next few months. We have a finite resource for our appointments and so we are always trying to strike a balance between having appointments available for those who need care on the day, with having appointments available to book in the future. We have employed a number of new types of health care professional in the last several month’s including new clinical pharmacists, a Physicians Associate and an additional paramedic. These new staff members will be able to undertake work traditionally completed by the doctors and so free up the doctors up to offer more appointments. I am sorry that the phones are so busy, this is an indication of the very high levels of demand we have placed on our services; we receive between 300-500 calls every day. We are looking at new software to improve our online consultation process which we believe will contribute to fewer calls to our phone lines. The Reception team; as in many surgeries in England; will always aim to ensure that our patients get to see the appropriate health care professional. Many patients ask to see the doctor when this is not always required; it is important that we use our clinical resources as best we can, and this is just one part of what the Reception team do. One example of this is in our participation in the Community Pharmacy Referral scheme whereby patients with various specified symptoms can be safely referred by the practice to a pharmacist for their care. The Reception team have received in-depth training, and clear and frequently updated guidance from the senior clinical partner on how best to manage patients and their symptoms. This will include identification of ‘red flag’ symptoms which are those with the most clinical risk and so are those needing the most urgent care. Patients identifying with any of these symptoms will usually be given the highest priority. Please accept my apologies once again for any upset you have experienced recently. It is disappointing and upsetting however, to see that you feel it appropriate to encourage our patients to take us to court for negligence. I see no basis for this in your comments above. I will be happy to investigate your concerns further if you wish; I can be contacted via bswicb@wgppatientvoice@nhs.net Best regards Craig Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead Westbury Group Practice
-
Review titled Very bad practice now, pretty much worthless
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anthony Nigel Dean - Posted on 30 March 2023
Two main functions of GP, getting GP appointment and prescriptions. With a third admin role which is also important. First one (GP appointments) is next to impossible, you have to call on the day at 8am to be in a chance to get any appointment, impossible to book in advance. That's assuming you can get an appointment that day, if not tough luck. Second (prescriptions) I had major issues with, after being discharged from hospital after major heart surgery it took me harassing them for two weeks to get my hospital prescription added to get meds I needed. I almost ran out of meds (only 7 days worth left). Given the delay in getting meds from the pharmacy I only just managed to get my meds before I ran out completely. Many of the meds would have caused serious complications had I abruptly stopped taking them. Third I had a insurance claim to make due to hospital visit, Westbury practice will take the full 30 days to reply (legal requirement they must reply within that timeframe), they will not do it any sooner. Likely same reason my prescription took weeks too. My advice if these are your GP, don't be ill or if you are go to the hospital as this lot are beyond useless. Only exception is INR team - they all seem to be very professional, sad this doesn't extend to the GP, who after covid I don't think actually show up for work. Sad thing is before covid, they were very good. I see from other comments, I am not alone in this view of them.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 04 April 2023
Good morning Mr Dean, Thank you for taking time to offer your feedback to the surgery. I am sorry to hear that you feel the service we provided wasn’t satisfactory; please accept my apologies for any upset you experienced. We acknowledge that our phones are very busy; our Reception team take 300 - 400 calls daily. We also understand that it can be frustrating to have to call back the following day if we are fully booked. However, we do book appointments on the day; yesterday we booked over 200 appointments. We are looking to ameliorate these difficulties by investigating new online-consultation software and, potentially, a new phone system. The practice has also employed several new clinicians to assist with the high volumes of demand on our services. We do have some advance appointments but these are used very quickly. We strike a balance between having enough appointments to see patients who need to be seen ‘on the day’ with also having pre-bookable appointments. The surgery team is affected by Covid-19; we have absences today for this reason. In general someone who has the virus but feels well can still attend their place of work; this is not the case for staff working at the surgery. This is one of our considerations when balancing appointment resources; any clinics booked in advance are subject to the risk of the clinician being absent and so we try to mitigate that risk. Cancelled clinics add to our workload as those 20 - 30 patients still need to be seen by a doctor. Staff absences have impacted all areas and this will have affected your medication processing and the provision of your notes. I am sorry that you had difficulties with your medications on being discharged from hospital 9th February. Our records show that you came into the surgery 20th February querying your discharge medication and these were issued 24th February. I am not aware of the reasons for the delays you experienced from your pharmacy; you may wish to contact them directly on that matter. We receive many requests for copies of patients' notes. I note that your record advises we received a request from your insurers 2nd March to provide your notes to them and 30th March you chased the surgery for these notes to be sent. The rules governing how surgeries respond to these requests changed with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018. One of the new regulations stipulated that surgeries have up to 30 days to provide requested notes, and we advised you of this via an SMS sent to you 30th March; and these notes were emailed to your insurer that same day. Thank you again for taking the time to offer your feedback; I hope that you are now making progress in your medical recovery. I will be happy to discuss your concerns further, I can be contacted at bswicb.wgppatientvoice@nhs.net. Best regards Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead Westbury Group Practice
-
Review titled Horrible system needs an urgent review
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 31 January 2023
I have been trying to arrange ADHD meds for my son, who has had meds before. I have called 4 times over the past few months and every time I am advised ‘call back tomorrow at 8am’ when I do that I am 20th in the queue, 50 min later there is nothing left. Surely it’s madness to advise the whole of westbury and surrounding to ‘call at 8am’ no wonder it’s impossible to speak to anyone, and If you do have a spare hour to wait they have nothing available. I managed to book my 40 year health check today, I’m flabbergasted I got in. I’m 43 now- better late than never! My partner had to go to A and E last weekend for Antibiotics for a bad Ear infection as he couldn’t get in. (We waited 5 hrs) The dr at A and E said westbury surgery is notorious there! The Receptionists are lovely - they seem as annoyed with the booking system too. I’m scared for my family. I pray no one gets unwell
Visited January 2023
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 02 February 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for taking the time to let us know of your concerns about the service you have received from the surgery. Our clinical team do seeing many hundreds of patients every day but we do understand that it can be very busy on our phones in the morning. I will advise that this is a challenge that many surgery's throughout England face. I am pleased to hear that you were successful yesterday in your attempts to book an appointment for your health check . I will be happy to investigate your concerns in more detail if you wish; and I can be contacted via our email address: bswicb.wgppatientvoice@nhs.net Please let me have as much information as you can so that I can investigate our activity in detail. If you would prefer, you can take your concerns directly to NHS England, their contact details are: Tel: 0300 311 2233 Email: england.contactus@nhs.net Post address: NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT Thank you also, for your kind comments regarding the Reception team; their job is one of the toughest in the surgery and they will appreciate your positive feedback. I trust and hope your partner has now made a good recovery from his ear infection. Best regards Craig Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead White Horse Health Centre
-
Review titled Still waiting in the phone queue
Rated 1 star out of 5
by James - Posted on 22 November 2022
I'm writing this while I wait in the phone queue. Apparently my call is very important to them. A member of their team will be with me shortly. the same message, along with my place in the queue has been replayed to me 19 times so far, I started out number 17 in the queue, now I'm number 5. I've been waiting 17 minutes and am not feeling my call is very important to them at all.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 23 November 2022
Good morning, Thank you for taking the time to leave your comments; I would like to assure you that all our patients are important to us. The waiting time on the phone is an indicator of the extremely high level of demand for our services; we receive between 300 and 400 calls most days. In addition, calls to the surgery can be lengthy as our team discuss and advise patients regarding the best health care professional to see them for their symptoms. We are also experiencing high levels of sickness absence throughout the surgery. We do have an online option - eConsult - which you could use and so avoid any waits on the telephone. eConsult is available via our website - you will see the icon at the top right hand side of each page on our site here: https://westburygp.co.uk/ I trust and hope that you have now made contact with the surgery. best regards Craig Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead Westbury Group Practice
-
Review titled Refusal to make an appointment
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Chris Barry - Posted on 04 December 2022
For many years I had great service here and after an xray I was to join the Coritsone program for my ankle. Expensive walking boots enabled me to postpone the injection for a year. When I phoned reception I was told due to the time gap I must have another consultation. Bit of a waste of a doctors time but I understood the reason. I said ok lets make an appointment - to be told 'sorry you cannot we are fully booked'. I said 'ok I will make one weeks or months later any day or time' - sorry we fully booked. I pointed out to the receptionist that you say I must have another consultation how am I if I cannot make an appointment? I was told to phone every morning and join the dreaded phone queue! Rather inconvenient if you are working (and in a bit of pain).
Visited August 2022
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 07 December 2022
Good afternoon Mr Barry, Many thanks for taking the time to offer your feedback. We recently posted our plans for the winter period on our facebook pages (shown below). I hope this offers you a reasonable explanation for the events you have recounted. “Just to let you know that from 5th December 2022, we have again introduced an on the day appointment system at Westbury Group Practice for all GP and Acute Care Team appointments for the duration of this winter. We have done this to ensure that we have some flexibility to meet both patient demand and staff availability over this winter. Given the unpredictable progress of winter illnesses, we are not able to book appointments fully in advance, as we cannot rely on past experience to estimate demand for appointments. This is also affected by staff availability: alongside all other reasons that could affect staff absence, as NHS staff, we are still required to self-isolate for at least 5 days should we contract Covid 19, and whilst we have strict infection control measures in place to reduce our risk at work, we know it is not always avoidable. We acknowledge that this reduces some convenience for patients, but it does mean that you can call for an appointment on a day that you are available to come in for review, and not a day dictated by a routine booking system. However and especially if you are requesting a specific clinician, we may not able to offer you an appointment on the first occasion one is requested. We have also changed the way our clinics are run to meet the need for acute respiratory illness in anticipation of increased demand. We would also like to reassure you that this “on the day” system is very similar to the one Westbury Group Practice has successfully utilised over the festive period for several years, and that it remains under constant review. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to adjust to the ongoing pressures that we as a Practice and the wider NHS face.“ Craig Massey Patient Communication Lead White Horse Health Centre
-
Review titled useless
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 09 May 2022
can never get through on the phone lines,either engaged for 45 mins,then #14 in queue only to be told that you cant get an appointment in the specific women health clinic because they are full this month and they haven't opened the appointments for june. You cant speak to a nurse on the phone either because there are no appointments and if you ring Wednesday or Thursday because the Women's health nurse that you need to speak to is there ,you probably wont get a call back because shes booked up. so I say to the receptionist, I therefore cant book an appointment or speak to a woman's health nurse . No,was the answer...and she also came out with. "it's just one of those things " Great service dont you think.
Visited May 2022
Review titled Westbury Group Practice
Replied on 11 May 2022
Dear Patient, Thank you for taking the time to offer us your feedback regarding difficulties in obtaining a women's health nurse appointment. Please accept my apologies for any upset caused. We have experienced high staff absences over the last several weeks which has meant that a lot of appointments had to be cancelled and re-booked. In a difference to the general working population, staff who work in doctor’s surgeries have to stay at home if that contract covid-19; some have been able to work from home but of course this would not be appropriate for many appointments. We are also currently reviewing the balance of or appointment for the women's health nurses with a view to having more appointments available to book telephone calls with those nurses. Please accept my apologies once again for the frustrations you have experienced. If you visit our website (www.westburygp.co.uk/) you will see on the Contact page alternative means of contacting us; we have an email address for patients as well as e-Consult which is a way to contact us without having to go through the very busy phone lines. If you wish to email the surgery with some further details, I will be happy to investigate further - I am not sure at this stage whether you have now managed to gain the appointment you were looking to book, or not. Please mark any communication on this for my attention, Best regards Craig Massey Patient Communications Lead White Horse Health Centre