Dr Thyne & Partners || Stockbridge Health Centre

Poor reception staff, too many mistakes with appointments.

this is the third time you have changed where we can get our flu vaccinations. First it was the health centre, the princes st gardens and now having gone to the west end centre last week to get an appointment for next weekend I'm told that it is only open this weekend, Can we please have some consistency

This is the best surgery I’ve ever been registered with. I’ve always been able to get an appointment quickly and the doctors have always been very kind and helpful. I’ve just moved house and I’ll be sorry to leave

The team have since reached out to ensure I am ok after the experience and to explain what happened. I hope to now put this experience behind me and benefit from the high quality care provided by the GPs.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My experience with the GPs at this surgery has been brilliant, very thorough and professional. However my experience with the reception team has been awful. I attended the practice and was told to sit down immediately and there were signs saying 'don't approach the desk'. There was a miscommunication, I thought the staff knew I was there for my appointment, having said my name and appointment details over the buzzer before being allowed in to the surgery. Apparently these details weren't passed on and I was never 'checked in' for my appointment. These things happen, particularly currently as processes and procedures have changed to ensure COVID prevention measures are in place. In normal times I would have approached the desk, as I had been waiting 40 mins and was the only patient there, but the signs in the surgery made me believe that I would be breaking their COVID processes by doing so. Instead of showing any sort of positive communication skills, Caroline the receptionist, raised her voice yelling at me to explain the breakdown in process. The abuse by this staff member was an awful experience and I fear going into the practice again to address health concerns, as I do not want to run into her and be treated in a similar way again. Such a shame as the GPs are second to none.

Yesterday my newly pregnant wife spoke to a gentleman at this practice who was kind, helpful and friendly and said that we needed to call this morning to get registered/temporarily registered. Called at 9am and waited on the line for 40 minutes after which a lady who said her name was Pam picked up. She was rude, dismissive, had no empathy and made my newly pregnant wife cry!!! She was aware of the situation and still was very dismissive repeating problems to us and not offering any solution and certainly being anything but helpful. We will not be registering with this surgery after this horrific experience and would certainly recommend all to stay away from there.

The registration process is an absolute mess and dealing with the staff has been incredibly frustrating. They are unhelpful and rude - to the point of my wife having a panic attack while we were just trying to register. Good luck actually getting any help here.

Trying to contact the practice by telephone is near impossible. I have been calling both lines from 0930 this morning only to be told by an automated message that the practice is now closed with no indication on the phone or online as to why or when it will be open. This is a Monday morning and well within advertised operating hours.I am trying to receive my test results which are only available by telephone in Scotland (no online system) and only possible via the enquires line which is open 0900 - 1200 Monday to Friday. For anyone who works this is already a challenge to find the time to sit a queue on the phone during the working morning, let alone when the practice has decided to close with zero notice.When I did manage to speak to a doctor last week they were excellent, arranged a same day appointment and were very professional. I can not fault the care provided, only that it is near impossible to reach this stage. Fortunately I had already had a private GP appointment and so was taken seriously when I called up which I expect expediated events. When asked why I used a private GP, this is why. There is little difference between the quality of medical attention, however it is possible to receive care, results and advice in a timely manner.

Using there IT system for appointments and repeat prescriptions is excellent. Friendly reception staff and good doctors. Great location.

I was disgusted by my experience trying to register with Dr Shaw and Partners.I arranged a registration appointment last week for today. I was told to fill out forms prior to it or to pick them up from reception beforehand to fill them in. I arrived to my appointment 7 minutes early in order to fill the forms in and attend. Instead the lady at reception turned me away saying that there would not be time to do it. I had taken time out of work to attend the appointment and this was completely unacceptable. I would absolutely not recommend bothering trying to register with this practice. There’s being assertive, and there’s having no common sense or courtesy!Unfortunately this has also distressed me, as it has caused delay for the management of medical conditions.

Compared to Bruntsfield medical practice I found the staff to be blunt and dismissive - not all but in my experiences so far.I think this says more about their working conditions but nevertheless being treated with little empathy or sensitivity can make or break someone. Wouldn't recommend for mental health care unfortunately.