John Amery Drive Surgery

I first registered at John Amery Drive in 1990, and for years on end I was happy there with the doctor who ran it back then until 2006. It was duly taken over by another doctor who I felt was OK, but certainly not as good as the old one. Over the next decade, the surgery went downhill, gradually at first, and I would say that over the last four years it has degenerated considerably. The surgery is affiliated to (I think) 2 larger, sister surgeries, and I suspect that all the energy goes into these other 2 surgeries. For eg, my oldest son enquired about smoking cessation, and was told JAD dont offer that service! Also, whilst the whole of Stafford has for 2 or so yrs offered electronic transfer of prescriptions, JAD has only just introduced this! The appointments system is dire. I left the surgery earlier in '18 because I rang one day to cancel a blood test, only to be told that there was no record of this apt! (Even though I had made the apt in person, at the surgery, and had it written on a card, so I know for certain I had booked this.) And this had happened to me before, only a few weeks previous - my youngest son has now decided to leave because the exact thing happened to him yesterday. The last time I visited the surgery it was on an urgent basis - I was suffering from acute dizziness. The 'advanced' nurse practicioner I saw seemed at a total loss as to what was wrong with me or how to treat it, and had to bring the gp in. She alike was at a total loss. I told them that I suffer from a thyroid disorder, and at no time was I questioned more about this. I was sent home with some anti dizziness meds with the instruction to come back after the wkend if there was no improvement. (My new gp quickly ascertained that my dizzy spells were caused by my thyroid meds, and a swift reduction in this remedied the situation.) I noticed another reviewer commented on how the reception staff's conversation and 'confidential' phone conversations could be heard word for word. I would back this up - the reviewer is right, and something needs to be done about this. My oldest son noticed this some time back, and as he was very depressed at the time, this made him feel very uncomfortable. I would not recommend JAD to anyone, even if they were desperate to see a gp. In fact, I think JAD's days are numbered. For one, ppl on the lookout for a gp go online these days tend to read reviews before choosing. I dont believe my family are alone in having these negative experiences with JAD. I dont see how they can compete with any other surgery in Stafford, particularly as they have the very progressive Merrey Rd Surgery just over the road, and can't get their act together to provide smoking cessation clinics, even though they did in the past. One final word. There are a couple of very good doctors here, but it is a battle to actually get an appointment to see them. I suspect this is because they only do one day at JAD, whilst most of their time is allocated elsewhere.
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