Birchgrove Surgery

Rude receptionist staff, answered the phone whilst talking to her colleague and really wasn’t interested in helping me. Made me feel like I was wasting her time.

Receptionists are extremely rude and incompetent. Called this morning as I need an urgent prescription for my anti-depressants. Was told that I could not get an appointment with my doctor I have been seeing about my mental illness and that I would have to email for a repeat prescription and just not take my medication for how ever long it will take for my prescription to be processed. I'm 19, and I thought this was my only option until I looked further into it. I called again and was told to fill out an urgent prescription form on the surgery's website. Thought, I was getting somewhere, until I looked on the website and saw that this form has been removed. I then drove to the surgery where I was greeted by yet another receptionist who was unaware that this form has been removed. I was handed the form and a blunt pencil. I handed the form back to another receptionist who asked me why I needed this prescription, as if it was her own business and the reason wasn't already disclosed on the form. She told me my form will have to be checked by a doctor and that if its okay I can pick it up after 5pm. I went on to ask whether I will be informed on if its been confirmed by the doctor and where I can pick up my meds from, to which she got up and walked away, ignoring me, I waited for five minutes for her to come back before I left with my questions unanswered. As someone who is struggling with mental illness this situation makes it extremely hard to reach out for help. I've had my problems with this surgery before and their receptionists, but this situation made me feel very helpless.

The medics are often fine, when you can get to see one.Getting to see one feels like an obstacle course, however.

I get such bad anxiety ringing this surgery after having previous bad experiences but after being advised that I needed an urgent face-to-face consultation or attend local UTC/A&E, I had no choice.After speaking to a receptionist that clearly did not want to help, I was later told without any consultation that the soonest they could see me was in a week and a half time.It’s no wonder so many people end up in A&E unnecessarily.

I an disgusted by the attitude of the receptionist who needs to come down of her horse and realize she is a receptionist, not a medically trained doctor, or even a trained medical professional, her attitude was disgusting in trying to tell me my pain does not constitute as worthy of seeing the doctor, when I tried to plead with her because I was in so much pain, she became aggressive and disgusting, people like that should not be allowed to work in a place where people calling are vulnerable, sick and in pain. I will be making an official complaint, but lets face it, the way receptionists are these days, nothing will ever get done about it. She tried to tell me what medical treatment to seek despite her having no medical training whatsoever! Who does she think she is! Receptionists these days have some sort of power complex, her attitude was beyond disgusting and she simply should not be working there

Impossible to get an appointment to see a doctor. Best look elsewhere for your healthcare needs.

I have been with this practice for over 70 yrs.I have always found it excellent, being able to talk to a doctor within hours of calling in.I also find the receptionists most helpful and polite.I have experience of other practices through other family members, but none compare with Birchgrove Surgery.

Absolutely disgusting level of service, I say service, it’s actually a disgusting lack of service. I was told to phone at 10am to book an appointment which I did only to be told all the appointments had gone and to phone at 2pm which I did only to be told all the appointments had gone and to phone at 10 am the next day. This went on for 4 days in a row and I have given up as the stress levels of dealing with the incredibly unhelpful reception is likely to be more harmful to my health than the ailment that I require to see a doctor for. I asked how I could actually see a doctor or even just speak to a doctor on the phone, this seemed to stump the receptionist who told me that they have 11,000 patients so what should I expect, excellent.

Tried to make an appointment for my 90 year old mother but told I was ringing at the wrong time. I have to ring at 9am or 2pm and then it's a case of 'fastest finger first'. If I'm not one of the lucky ones to get one of the limited number of appointments for the day, I then need to ring back the following day and play the same game again. Ridiculous to base appointment allocation on a TV game show format.

Rude and unhelpful receptionists. Have to wait several weeks to get an appointment with a doctor. Don’t know how they get away with it