janduplessis886/england-nhs-gp-reviews huggingface dataset:
GP surgery review: manor-park-medical-centre
Title: Poor aftercare, need to chase up.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Visited: November 2022
Phoned for blood results & was told by receptionist that all is o.k. with "no further action", when the problem is ongoing & needs follow-up appointment. No prebookable appointments so you have to keep phoning every morning for an appointment. Told hospital results are not on the system when they are so I've had to persist++. Some receptionists are lovely & helpful but there have been some (too many) who make the process a lot less bearable. The last thing you need when you or a loved one is poorly. If it's not urgent you're not going to be seen that day but you "can't" pre-book if you're happy to see someone in, say, the next 3 weeks like you used to be able to. You can arrange a telephone or online appt, only to be told by that doctor that a face to face appt is required. Waste of everyone's time! If you're seriously ill you need to call 111 which puts more burden on an already stretched, a&e. Had to call 111 when husband collapsed with pneumonia & collapsed lung (he was in his forties). This was 2 days after being told by GP that it was just flu! He'd been coughing up blood for 3 days & barely walked into the consulting room. Paramedics & hospital were amazing but ambulance could have been avoided if he'd received antibiotics from the gp days earlier. Practice nurse was absolutely brilliant for another appt! A credit to the practice! There is no follow up care after referral to hospital. You just get forgotten & have to keep chasing up just to start the whole thing again. The system needs to improve.
GP surgery review: manor-park-medical-centre
Title: Good practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: August 2022
I've been a patient  at manorpark  medical centre polegate  for many many years I have always been treated with respect and understanding and got the medical treatment that I've needed .
The receptionists  are very helpful  and I have no complaints  its a very good practice .
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Very Poor costumer service
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: January 2024
This service operates using one of the worse staff I have ever met in terms of costumer service and understanding patients needs. The receptionist is quicker to decline any requests for an appointment needed quicker then listening to the request. I had a request from the GP in person to request an appointment with him and had to phone about 8 times during 4 different days to finnaly get that appointment. Twice hang on the call,  once told there was "nothing available for you", once just to call next day without bothering to listen to what I had to say. The manager or director should really look into what that receptionist staff are doing there. Beyond poor service.
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Fix your phone system!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Visited: January 2024
The last couple of times I have rung the practice I have pressed the number which is supposed to set in motion the 'ringback' system but it doesn't work. It doesn't help when you eventually get through to someone and mention the problem, only to be told, "Nobody else has mentioned this". So what?! I'm not making it up!
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Really?
Rating: 2 out of 5
Visited: December 2023
I hope I am mistaken in what I am wondering....!
I understand from practice staff that urgent appointments are only allocated 'on the day'. 
My husband went to the Beacon Practice at 08.00 a.m to try to book an urgent appt. He says he was first in the queue. He was told that there was only one appointment available (which, fortunately, he was given.) 
Does that imply that only one urgent appointment slot per day is accessible??? (I accept there is a phone line, which opens at 08.00.a.m., on which urgent appts might be allocated.  But even so, if he was first in the queue of people, how many slots do they keep available for any given day?!!)
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Worrying
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: December 2023
My husband is 'vulnerable' and monitored on account of two health issues. We try to consider and help to maximise NHS resources.  He needed an urgent GP appt today. At 09.00 hrs he paid to park in the Beacon (It's the VMC branch nearest us, and childcare responsibilities prevented him going earlier.) No appts available. Was advised to go to Old Town VMC to ask. (To go? Don't they have an internal phone line?)  Fortunately we have a car. He went.  No appts available.  Was told to go to Beacon practice at 08.00 hrs tomorrow to ask again. (Childcare responsibilities tomorrow? What if 'urgent' meanwhile becomes 'critical'?)  I know they're short of doctors since COVID. (Did so many registered GPs succumb to the virus?) It just seems that, while the staff I have met at VMC  are pleasant, the system is not set up to always consider patients' wellbeing, which ultimately impacts on their health and NHS resources.
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Worst practice in Eastbourne
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
It is impossible to get an appointment, takes at least 40 minutes to get through and then you get disconnected or all appointments are gone. Queuing in the morning before 8am does not help at all- 20 people in front of you, before you get to the reception all appointments are gone. Also I feel very uncomfortable being asked in detail!!! by a receptionist why I want to see my GP. The receptionists are not medical professionals, they are not entitled to know about my health problems. Also it feels to me like the receptionists are trying rather to fob patients off than help. When suffering from a very bad sciatica, my husband (who is a doctor himself) was asking the receptionist to pass on a short letter about my condition to my GP to be told by a very abrupt and unkind receptionist, that it is impossible! she simply refused to take the letter and advised to book an urgent appointment the following day. There is not enough staff at the downstairs reception to deal with enquiries. Often - even if promised to get a phone call from the GP it does not happen. I had to have some tests done privately, I took them to the practice to get only a message from them that I should book an appointment with my GP. I tried but it is simply impossible! I keep running in circles. There is no facility to book an appointment in advance either online, by phone or in person.  You cannot email the surgery directly. I am very frustrated and disappointed with the service.
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Appointment Prevention Squad
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
Filled out a message online and got a physio appointment straight away - great
I was told to get a doctor’s appointment
Like an id***, I went downstairs expecting great things. No I was met by the appointment prevention squad.
Told me appointments in November or ring up at 8am. I generally don’t sleep until 6am but no joy. 
Was then told to go to pharmacy reference angry looking bite. 
They were very good but suspect it’s infected. Got to take photos to see if it gets worse
Comments please!!
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Understaffed and broken
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
I am very disappointed with the service I received from this medical practice. I have been suffering from ear issues for a while and I needed to speak to a doctor urgently. However, I could not get a call back from them despite leaving several messages. I also tried to book an appointment online, but they were always full within minutes of opening at 8am. This is very unprofessional and unacceptable.

I feel that this practice has taken on too many patients and cannot provide adequate care for them. They should either hire more staff or limit their intake of new patients. I do not recommend this practice to anyone who needs timely and quality medical attention.
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Appointment
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
You just can't get an appointment here...you call at 8 with at least 20+ more people in front of you so by the time you get someone to answer  the phone there is never ever any appointments left..you can't book in advance to see your doctor..call backs hardly ever get made...
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Brilliant practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: August 2023
Receptionists are practitioners are always very friendly and understanding both over the phone and in person. 

Have been going in for mental health related services over the last few months, and whilst at first I was apprehensive; the staff here at Victoria medical centre are so accommodating and sympathetic, it's really helped me get going in the right direction.
GP surgery review: victoria-medical-centre
Title: Survival of the fittest!
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: July 2023
I have never in my life known it to be so difficult to get an appointment with a GP. You have to queue up in the morning, by 7.30am there was already 10 people in front of me. I was told to ring when it opens at 8, but when I tried that I was 23rd in queue. When the doors open you either walk into reception or go to upstairs reception and people from behind me literally ran past me to get upstairs first (obviously more experienced dealing with this place). You can only get an appointment on the same day so if you aren't lucky enough, you have to go through the same rigmarole tomorrow. God knows what people do who aren't physically able to get there, stand for an hour in the queue etc. Admin are like the "computer says no" woman from Little Britain. When you do get an appointment, you can't choose the time so if you want to see someone face to face, you will likely have to take the whole day off work unless you have the flexibility to pop out for an hour as you can't plan ahead. This place is absurd, bordering on laughably bad but it's no laughing matter when we're dealing with people who are sick. Shame on you Vic Medical Practice, nothing super about this super clinic at all.
GP surgery review: hove-medical-centre
Title: Unhelpful reception staff
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: December 2023
With an open seeping wound  of six days the receptionist would not call any medical person to look at the wound even though the pharmacist at the chemist had seen it and said I should attend my surgery asap as it looks like it is infected the receptionist just informed me the first appointment she could offer me was a week away and there was nothing else she would do, to much power is given to these non medical staff to make judgment they are not qualified to make. I had to return to the chemist for more advice and her recommendation was draw  a line in pen around the redness of the skin and if the redness went beyond the line in a few days to go back to her and she would call the GP surgery . So the pharmacist was more helpful then the know it all receptionist  but this still does not stop the deep pain i am in.
GP surgery review: hove-medical-centre
Title: Well-run and friendly practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: February 2023
I have always found the Hove Medical Centre very efficient and the staff are friendly and helpful. Recommended.
GP surgery review: hove-medical-centre
Title: Oversubscribed
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: October 2022
This GP practice is clearly oversubscribed and I am unable to see my GP.

I tried calling today at 8am and 2pm. I didn’t get through to anyone on the phone both times and eventually the line just hung up on me. I will be trying again tomorrow.

There are no appointments available on their online system or through the NHS app which they direct you to.

I can see they are accepting new patient registrations. Whats the point of registering new patients if you are blatantly oversubscribed?
GP surgery review: hove-medical-centre
Title: Great care & service
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: August 2022
I don’t often have to contact or visit the surgery. Today I phoned in early but all appointments slots were full, but the lovely receptionist suggested that a GP could phone me. Dr phoned which as it happens is my normal GP & knows my history. She is so caring, great listener & such a supportive person. She was able to organise a prescription for me to collect from the chemist. I have always received the best care from all the team at hove medical centre. Thank you & well done to you all
GP surgery review: hove-medical-centre
Title: E consult worked well
Rating: 4 out of 5
Visited: August 2022
This service was very useful - I needed to contact a doctor to discuss how I was getting on with HRT, before getting a repeat prescription. I provided all the details that the form asked for and within a few hours, a doctor had left a message for me and arranged for a prescription to be sent to the local chemist. This service will hopefully free up in-person appointments for people who need to be actually seen. Would recommend.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Helpful service
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: January 2024
Since joining the practice my NHS App and SystmOnline app were not working. I contacted reception to see if anyone could help me. The Reception Manager promised to look into it and call me back. Over the course of three days she called me to update me daily on what was happening and that she was still working on getting it up and running contacting various people and help desks for me.
She could have easily decided not to call back or to give up but she didn’t and got the apps working for me to access them, but after that she also got my partners app to work too. I can’t thank her enough as we had tried so many times ourselves and had not been able to resolve what the problem was. Really impressed had she went beyond what most people would have done. Thank you.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Great reception
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: December 2023
Just spoke to the reception about something I thought I might talk to the Dr about but didn't want to waste anyones time as it was about a sore foot I woke up with and left me hobbling a bit. She was so nice and suggested I could arrange to see a physio when next available and probably have a tel call with. The lady checked to see when it could be done and I was delighted and relieved to have something in place for after Xmas, hopefully would be all better by then anyway. Thank you, so professional and friendly, it was a pleasure dealing with her! Always found everyone at Mile Oak a lovely group of people. Many thanks, you do a very difficult job and it is very appreciated. Jim
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: As helpful as is possible
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
Just one of my 3 monthly B12 jabs. Have always found staff friendly and helpful. Recent communication and face to face with doctor also positive.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Fantastic Staff and Service
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
The staff are always friendly and extremely professional. They are very thorough in their examination and extremely efficient in making appointments for further investigation. I cannot fault them and thank them.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Great practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: October 2023
As I said before, the nurses are always lovely and make me feel comfortable, whatever I am having done. I find this very helpful and would like to thank the nurses for smiling and being so understanding. They probably don’t realise how important this is to patients but we do appreciate it.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Great practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
I love all the staff at mileoak medical centre.  Always get a phone call, usually within the hour, and if we need to see doctor, it's the same day. everyone is so helpful and polite.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Very good practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
Staff were very friendly '& efficient. They had time to listen to me & not too feel rushed any further treatment needed came through quickly and I also received a personal text from my Doctor.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Very helpful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
Dr always very polite and ex plaines
Everything very well
They also quite often give me downloads to take away for me to read in my own time
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: New patient experience
Rating: 4 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
The immediate impression is of a very friendly,welcoming atmosphere. This includes receptionists, nursing staff and my GP who was knowledgeable, thorough and attentive and actually listened. Apart from the current, well known, country-wide difficulties afflicting patients  in accessing a doctor’s surgery, I am very impressed with my new GP practice.
GP surgery review: mile-oak-medical-centre
Title: Flu jabs
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: September 2023
My husband and I booked our appointments on the Friday and we had our flu jabs on the Saturday.  It was easy to book face to face at the Mile Oak medical centre and it was all on time and very well organised.
GP surgery review: portslade-health-centre
Title: Terrible Triage E Consult Policy
Rating: 2 out of 5
Visited: April 2023
The E consult is only available for a very short time frame usually between 8.30 - 8.50am and then is taken down. When calling the surgery they advise you to call 111.
The doctors receptionist said they take the form offline otherwise they would have 1000’s of e consults. I do not think taking the form down is solving the problem, all of the people that wanted to complete the form still want to just not able to.
Taking down the form is just masking the problem and putting up barriers for patients to gain access to appointments.

Portslade health centre have made it extremely difficult for patients to gain access to healthcare, I have expressed my concerns in writing and verbally and have yet to receive a response.
GP surgery review: portslade-health-centre
Title: Happy with the service
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: March 2023
I registered with this surgery over a year ago and my experience is positive. The doctors are helpful and caring, the reception staff is also helpful. I had bloods taken by a lovely nurse. Most appointments are over the phone, but if nec6, the doctor will see you face to face.
GP surgery review: portslade-health-centre
Title: Rude and inefficient
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: November 2022
Two months ago called to get a proper appointment. Only offered a phone call. When GP called my phone only rang twice. I phoned the number that called and took twenty minutes to get through, I explained askedcfor GP to call Mr back again. Three times I called waiting twenty minutes each time to get through before he eventually called back. I told him I was not happy, he just laughed at me. What a surgery!
GP surgery review: portslade-health-centre
Title: Terrible representation of the NHS
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: February 2022
Reception staff are condescending and rude as are the doctors, I was prescribed antibiotics for a reoccurring illness that did not work and when I informed the doctor of this he said that if I am self diagnosing why am I calling them. Poor attitude which has happened on more than one occasion. Shocking practice!
GP surgery review: wish-park-surgery
Title: Fantastic head Nurse
Rating: 3 out of 5
Visited: May 2023
Needle phobia, was very anxious for my blood test. Terry made it very comfortable for me and was such a lovely person.  
Before when I came it was two other nurses that were not very nice, nor helpful, and made me feel very uncomfortable.  Thank you Terry you are a very personable and caring Nurse. Highly recommend.  Thanks
GP surgery review: wish-park-surgery
Title: The Caring Practice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Visited: December 2022
Two years ago I was hospitalised with Legionella. I was making a good recovery before lapsing into depression from anxiety, stress and memory loss and felt very low. My wife took me abroad and on my return insisted I visited a doctor and arranged an appointment for me. I was seen almost immediately by a doctor at Wish Park Surgery and the doctor showed great understanding and was most empathic towards me in dealing with my mental health problems. My consultation was unhurried and very helpful. The doctor was kind and constructive and I walked out of the surgery feeling better as I felt I had been seen by a doctor I could trust and respect and understood my problems and cared. I have, since contracting Legionella in 2020, had the most amazing care from at least 3 different doctors as well as wonderful back up from, receptionists, vaccinators, medical secretary and all the staff at this excellent surgery. I thank them all.
GP surgery review: wish-park-surgery
Title: Disappointing service
Rating: 3 out of 5
Visited: October 2022
I’ve been a patient here for about 4 years and hitherto have been happy with the service but these past two weeks have been appalling.  I rang the surgery last week for an appointment because I had pains in my upper left arm. It was suggested that I go to A&E which I did. Six hours there with excellent treatment and various tests found no reason for the pain. However a blood test showed my cholesterol had risen since May and it was suggested I discuss this with my GP. Accordingly, the next morning I rang and spent over half an hour trying to convince the receptionist to give me an appointment with a doctor or nurse. She finally told me the nurse would ring me before 28 October - no date or time. In fact, the nurse rang on 20 October and again I had to convince her I knew what I was talking about when I asked to go back on the tablets I had earlier been taking.
On 17 October I asked for a repeat prescription for a related drug as I only had 3 tablets left.  On 21 October I went to the pharmacy to collect the prescription but it was not ready. The pharmacy suggested I check with the surgery.  I then found out, via the receptionist talking to the surgery pharmacist, that according to my records, I should not have run out until 25 October so they would not be issuing a prescription before then. Was anyone intending to let me know this?  There could have been a number of reasons why I was requesting the prescription, like being on holiday on 25 October.
 However, for whatever reason I have run out and I need some more. I do not think it is the surgery pharmacist’s job to monitor when I ask for a repeat prescription.  These are cholesterol reducing tablets, nothing more. 
Whilst at the surgery this morning I asked for an appointment with a doctor but was offered a telephone consultation with the nurse.  If I had taken this she would have had to refer back to the doctor and even more time and resources would have been wasted.
I really do feel that the practice organisation and structure need looking at.  Having been an administrator myself some of the ways of working do not seem to be logical or efficient.
GP surgery review: wish-park-surgery
Title: Poor support
Rating: 1 out of 5
Visited: August 2022
It's impossible to book an appointment over the phone as all the slots are booked up once the lines become free - even when calling each morning. E-Consults are currently unavailable for the practise, even though this is the fall-back option routinely suggested by receptionists if you ever get through.

If you do get an appointment, it won't be with a doctor you've previously dealt with, which means you have to explain your situation each time, even though you only have 15 minutes. This means there's no follow-up care, no-one to check how you're doing or explaining what the next step is. 

The surgery is overworked, oversubscribed and severely lacking in available doctors. It's left me feeling overwhelmed, disregarded and isolated from proper medical support.