Berkhamsted Group Practice (Milton)

My association with Milton House surgery extends to more than 30 years as a patient and for some years as a member of staff. The care I received was always personal and excellent. I am a healthy person and do not call on the service very often. However I was recently taken by ambulance to hospital where the service and follow up care was excellent. However I am now finding it increasingly frustrating to use this GP service. I fully understand the need to introduce new systems to streamline the patient experience and meet budget constraints. However the system should maintain ease of use of the services by patients and not depersonalise the experience. It is very difficult to get an appointment, particularly with a doctor who has knowledge of a patient’s medical history. This can be a source of anxiety. Whilst the reception staff are, in the most part, friendly and helpful it seems that the systems do not allow for any movement and prevents them from being helpful. I would happily use the online booking service if it was not so time consuming and difficult to register. My major disappointment was recent. I was seen by a doctor who fitted me in following a phone consultation. I was grateful that he was willing to fit me in but it was a doctor I had not met before and although he seemed thorough he also seemed to be in quite a hurry. When I tried to book a follow up appointment to discuss the results of his advice, the only one available was some days away at the Urgent Care Centre in Hemel Hempstead. It was on a Monday. I subsequently found I was unable to go to the appointment. We are often made aware of the cost to the NHS of missed appointments so I tried to cancel the appointment. I phoned the surgery on Saturday and found that, much to my surprise, there was a simple voice message telling me that the surgery was closed. I completed a feedback form online. I tried to phone again on the Monday morning calling 11 times and was unable to get through. I was left with no option but to miss the appointment. I left another feedback form online. There would have been a very simple solution to this if there had been an option to leave a voicemail when I called at the weekend to allow the appointment to be freed up for someone else. Please make it easier for us to do the right thing and save the NS money. I have now received a letter regarding plans to consolidate the 3 practices on one custom site. I will attend the consultation meeting to ask how patients’ needs for a personal service will be offered and managed. The fact that the NHS is free to all at the point of need is admirable however it should not ignore the fact that we are the ‘customers’ and our tax and NI pays for it. I am not sure that we would put up with the service we are currently receiving from GPs from any other service provider.
Original Comment Report...

Awful experience. Takes ages to get through, staff on phone are very rude and, if you raise an issue, there is no one to email or speak to, you have to write in. I've tried querying strange decisions by medical staff who do not read consultant decisions and have been left waiting for weeks for a reply. Never expect them to proactively contact you, you have to do all the chasing. And expect to be told you're wrong even if the evidence is on your side. Staff are clearly more than willing to make distressing situations worse by being rude and not listening to the evidence. Still waiting to hear from the practice manager.
Original Comment Report...