Willow Tree Family Doctors
343B Stag Lane, London, Greater London, NW9 9ADContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled So pleasant and helpful.
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Edward - Posted on 02 April 2025
The staff were so pleasant and helpful. The way they worked together to get things sorted for a vaccination whilst I was there for a health mot. Could not have expected any more from a private practice.
Visited April 2025
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 12 April 2025
Dear Edward, Thank you for your kind and thoughtful review. We’re so pleased to hear that your experience at our NHS surgery was a positive one. Our team works hard to accommodate patient requests and ensure everything runs smoothly, so it’s wonderful to know we achieved that for you. Warm regards, Dr Meeta Dodhia, Managing Partner
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Review titled Unhappy with the practice
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 February 2025
I find I have been getting better advice from my chemist regarding certain issues to do with my health. I do not like using Patches as it is far too complicated and hard to understand and then you end up talking on the telephone to a doctor that doesn’t know anything about my problems
Visited January 2025
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 13 March 2025
Dear Anonymous, Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the practice. As no specific details have been provided, we are unable to investigate your concerns further at this time. If you would like us to look into your situation, we encourage you to reach out through the practice’s usual communication channels, where we can address your concerns in more detail. Regarding PATCHS, please note that it is supported by a voice bot, allowing patients to call the practice and have their requests transcribed into a PATCHS submission automatically. This ensures that those who prefer to speak over the phone can still have their concerns logged and addressed efficiently. We appreciate all feedback as it helps us improve our services, and we hope to hear from you directly. Best regards, Dr Meeta Dodhia, Managing Partner
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Review titled Poor listening skills ( receptionist )
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 October 2024
The receptionist have very poor listening skills and believe everything on there screen is up to date information. When challenged become very distasteful and unprofessional.
Visited September 2024
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 20 October 2024
I am sorry you seem to have had a bad experience at our practice though it is not clear exactly what happened and when. Sending an anonymous post like this does not allow us to track the event, understand the details and remedy any deficiency, so it is not very helpful. Much better to complain to the practice, when we can take the full details and investigate. I am therefore not really able to say any more other than to offer a general apology and so say that our receptionists are undergoing constant training to improve their skills. We have had many new ones and some will not been fully trained but whoever it was who gave a bad service cannot be determined by your post. Dr Selwyn
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Review titled Unfriendly Service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 19 September 2024
I went to get my smear test done, I was 20 minutes early, and the nurse completing the procedure was rude, impatient and very abrupt. For something so uncomfortable and sensitive, I would have hoped for more kind and reassuring presence. I think that you should have a comforting environment for such an experience, considering how important smear tests are and women already do not like going, I am reluctant to have more in the future. As a nurse myself, the attitude and behaviour displayed was not in keeping with how patients should be made to feel. I also had a blood test the week before, the skin was not disinfected at all and was incredibly painful from poor technique.
Visited September 2024
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 20 October 2024
Dear Anonymous, I am sorry you had two negative experiences recently. Unfortunately, we are unable to investigate an anonymous post without being given any details. Much better to send a complaint to the practice so we can investigate fully, offer an explanation and apology and remedy any deficiencies. I’ll deal with your smear test first. I agree, this should have been made comfortable, reassuring and kind, as for any invasive procedure. In the absence of details, I must assume this was not performed by our own part-time practice nurse, who is kind and professional and receives positive reviews. I expect it must have been with one of the locum nurses we’ve needed recently, some of whom have demonstrated unacceptable and unprofessional standards and have been returned to the agency. I can only apologise if it was one of those – they will not be allowed to return. We have a major lack of practice nurses and not just in our practice. Since Covid, in particular, recruitment of practice nurses has been a major deficiency across general practice. We have been advertising for over three years and barely getting any response, which is why we have been forced to use locums to maintain a service and sometimes these have turned out to be substandard. Having read your comments, patients may now be reluctant to have a smear test, which is why this kind of anonymous comment can be unhelpful. Whilst it is not a pleasant prospect, most patients are dealt with kindly and professionally and suffer no discomfort and it really is very important to come for a smear test when called. Turning to the blood test, using alcohol skin swabs has not been accepted evidence-based practice for many years. It has been shown not to effectively disinfect the skin nor to reduce skin infections and causes stinging and therefore more pain. We always follow current best evidence-based practice (though other organisations may not have updated their procedures). Blood tests are usually not particularly uncomfortable but sometimes can be painful – hitting a nerve is just bad luck, so it may be painful on one occasion and be virtually painless on another, irrespective of technique (and I have performed thousands of blood tests over my career as a doctor). Dr Selwyn, Senior Partner.
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Review titled Mixed feelings
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 March 2025
This practise is one of largest in the area and accepts requests online which is great and modern approach. As it is large, you can contact and get appointment pretty soon from contacting. The cons, however, are such that there are many dr associates not fully qualified doctors who are signed up for patients appointments which means after explaining everything in an online form, one has to meet with dr associate to explain everything again and the associate, as not fully qualified GP, would first try all the basic treatments and advise which caused my children with incontinence problems being discharged instead of stool tests or blood tests being done. Similarly, when I was asking for mental health diagnoses, I was referred to IAPT or asked to provide paperwork from other healthcare professionals and often had to reach out to private clinics outside Willow Tree because without solid proof from other specialist, doctor associates at Willow Tree did not pursue referrals as kindly requested. So this is how this large modern clinic seems to be suffering from being too large - it is too difficult to get through to the GP (would be great if there is a specific advise for example - explain to patients when they fill out PATCHs request they should specifically ask for GP appointment so their time is not wasted in case of really serious matters - just an idea, maybe there are different ways to get it sorted). I appreciate greatly that doctors and doctors associates, as happening in many clinics, are working very hard and doing a lot of overtimes (got phone calls from clinic around 8-9pm on Fridays!! not convienient for patients, sounds like such a hard work for dr too! but this is NHS crisis and we have to recognize it). I try not to get into any discussions with reception staff as they seem not fully trained. I have to report though, as being a waiting in the waiting area, often noticed people having hard time with reception, but I am sure it is both for patients being ill and frustrated with NHS crisis, and sometimes for staff not being able to manage appropriate approach to suffering frustrated patients. I think clinic would highly benefit from training reception and other staff in Neurodivergence, how to speak with Autistic/ADHD individuals, as these days many people have various mental health problems and may behave as under umbrella of neurodivergence so these techniques could help them to manage. I acknowledge that some GPs at the practise, which hardly but sometimes I was able to meet in person for real GP appointment, were extremely knowledgeable and professional. I also always found nurse/blood test sample staff very kind and helpful. So I would say I have mixed feelings and all what I explain is based on my experience as a patient between 2018-2024 as I am no longer patient at this practise as my health deteriorated and had to use more specialist GP-based help, not dr associates appointments.
Visited September 2024
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 02 April 2025
Dear Anonymous, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I appreciate your detailed review and will address your points step by step. I'm glad to hear that you found our online consultation process useful. As a digital-first surgery, we strive to improve accessibility for our patients while ensuring timely and efficient care. To clarify, our Associate GPs are fully qualified doctors, many with years of post-qualification experience. We also have GP trainees, who are fully qualified doctors in their final years of specialist training. They work under the close supervision of our GP trainers, who are all experienced partners in the practice. Regarding treatment plans, we follow clinical evidence-based guidelines, which often involve a stepwise approach. This means that initial management may involve simpler interventions before progressing to more detailed investigations if needed. Since your review is anonymous, I’m unable to look into your specific concerns. However, had you remained a patient, our complaints process would have been available to address any issues you faced. On referrals, NHS guidelines require clinical justification before onward referral. Our clinicians carefully assess each case to ensure appropriate investigations have been conducted before referring patients to specialists. This approach helps streamline care and prevent unnecessary delays in the system and additional cost to an already struggling NHS. In terms of access to GPs, we have a skilled team of allied healthcare professionals who can effectively manage many conditions. A senior clinician reviews all incoming queries and assigns them to the most appropriate team member, ensuring patients receive the right care from the right professional. Our reception team is trained to gather relevant details to support this triage process, helping us allocate queries efficiently. Providing thorough information at the outset allows us to direct patients to the most suitable clinician without unnecessary delays. I appreciate your comments about the long hours our doctors work. Our team is dedicated to providing the best possible care, even when that means working beyond regular hours. We also take ongoing training seriously, and our reception team is enrolled in additional consultation courses to further enhance patient interactions, taking into account varied patient conditions. Thank you for your kind words about our knowledgeable and professional GPs. I hope this response clarifies our approach and processes. Wishing you the best in your ongoing healthcare journey. Dr Meeta Dodhia, Managing Partner
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Review titled Repeat prescription
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 27 January 2024
0 stars. My mom submitted her repeat prescription on a Monday and waited 48 hours to collect it, but nothing was available. She went again the next day, and still, there was nothing. On Friday morning, she visited the practice and was told by the receptionist that her prescription would be signed off later in the day. On Saturday morning, she went to collect it, but there was still nothing. It was a frustrating experience, and she eventually ran out of medication. The pharmacy had to provide a two-week supply. This situation has occurred before.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 29 January 2024
Dear Anonymous, I am sorry your mother experienced a problem with her prescription. If you'd like to contact us we can look into it and explain what happened but an anonymous comment does not allow us to do that. We can get up to a couple of hundred prescription requests each day and handling them can be very complex with stringent safety checks needed on each. There can be many reasons for delays such as patients not responding to invitations for their routine checks, expired authorisations, changes made by the hospital and so on. We have a team of clinical pharmacists as well as the doctors carrying our this activities. Ordering is always best done electronically using the NHS or Patient app that comes straight into the electronic patient record system and any requests that come in differently or via the chemist can take longer. There are also significant medicine shortages so some items need replacing. So, knowing how you ordered and what was being requested and following that through is the only way we can sensibly understand your problem. If anyone has a delay to their prescription they should raise this and we can always issue an emergency supply to keep them going. The chemist also has the ability, as in this case, to issue an emergency supply. Even 111 can arrange an emergency supply if at the weekend when we are closed. So, no patient should ever run out of their medicines. Please get in touch and we can look into it.
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Review titled Getting from bad to worse, especially with patches
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 08 June 2023
There was a time when I could pickup the phone and call to get an appointment ( with a bit of difficulty admittedly ) or walk in the surgery early in the morning as they opened and get an appointment either for the morning session or the afternoon session, then covid 19 came and gave all of the doctors at the surgery a perfect excuse to no longer engage with patients in person or unnecessarily. It felt like they deliberately did everything within their powers to not see patients, making it extremely difficult as possible. One of those obstacles that disenfranchises, marginalises and discriminates against patients with poor memory and a lack of experience, skills and knowledge of using a smartphone and computer is the new mandated patches system that everyone at the surgery is ramming down people's throats. I vehemently despise this system because it delays and restricts me getting access to treatment and services. I feel so frustrated, embarrassed and lost for not remembering how to log in and when I do, it takes me ages, but nobody at the practice cares. The front desk staff are all young and clued up on technology, but what about patients like me that have to suffer in silence and embarrassment .I strongly suggest that that there is a hybrid system that accommodates both the younger patients with i.t. and smartphone and pc skills as well as the older patients whose easiest access to getting an appointment to see a gp is by having the choices of making an appointment by telephone ( if they ever answer the phone in the mornings) or by walking in the surgery in person. It is such a ridiculous state of affairs at the moment, that one morning I lined up in the queue ( first in line ) and when I walked up to the receptionist at the desk and said that I would like to make an appointment, I was told that it could not be done. I was told to telephone the surgery, so I took out my old mobile phone while standing in front of her and dialled the Surgery. the number rang and nobody was answering and she was the only person on the reception desk. She saw what was happening and eventually said that I had to register with patches, so I stood in front of her and tried to do it. Even with her help it took us about 20 minutes to setup, but now I am at home and cant remember my password, so after 3 incorrect passwords, I have to wait for 3 minutes to try again, just to add insult to injury to someone in pain and who cant remember their password. please bring back the old system or have a hybrid system .patches on it's on doesn't cater adequately or fairly for all patients ( I tried to write the last sentence in capital letters, but this website wouldn't allow me, including the use of pc and gp in capitals , oh dear ) , what next ?
Visited June 2023
Review titled Willow Tree Family Doctors
Replied on 12 June 2023
Dear Anonymous, Thanks for your comments. The global pandemic killed around 225,000 in the UK, disabling many more and the virus is still active. We had to respond rapidly: NHS England forbade F2F contacts requiring us to change our systems overnight, not an ‘excuse’ but necessary to maintain a service. We have never avoided seeing patients or want to make it difficult. You say it could be difficult to obtain an appointment previously. Now, with increased demand and staffing shortages, in order to provide a safe and effective service, we deal with all patient queries on the same day, late submissions the next morning. Previously appointments were often 2-3 weeks ahead for a problem which could have been dealt with at first contact. Other surgeries ask you to ring in the morning and when all slots are filled around 9am, that’s it for that day. It would be easier to run our service like that, rather than flexing daily capacity to deal with the varying demand as we do; working additional sessions when demand is high or we have staff sickness, employing extra locums at partners’ personal expense and constantly juggling rotas to provide a responsive service. The way we operate is hugely complex and stressful. Are you aware you can still phone if you prefer – exactly the hybrid system you ask for? 80% of people – of all ages - are happy to use the Patchs system to write, in their own words and time, the details of their problem or query. 20% still phone and a receptionist takes down their words for the doctor. This allows us to prioritise and offer the best response – a F2F appointment, often that day, a phone call or video, a test booked or a referral, a prescription, certificate or whatever is the most appropriate solution. This rapid response is more efficient for everyone, especially the patient. We were moving towards this type of system pre-Covid, under the NHS Long Term Plan. Recruitment and retention are big problems in the NHS as many staff, clinical and administrative, left or became part-time. Our management team spends excessive time on recruitment and we are lucky to have our staff when they have many other choices to work in a less stressful and complex environment. If you have any solutions we’d be delighted to hear from you but those who do work for us are keen and committed and are being trained to provide a good service. I am glad the receptionist spent time helping you and am sorry you were unable to remember your password and use the Patchs system. It is simple to reset a forgotten password – please ask a receptionist team to help again but as above, you can always use the phone if you prefer. Change is often difficult to accept but we have to adapt to new circumstances. Please try again and we hope you can adapt, as most of our patients have and like the majority, appreciate the improved, albeit different, service we now have to provide. Dr Alan Selwyn