So many problems with GP practice ....

My GP prescribed some codeine for my knee when I saw her. I didn’t pick it up straight away. My partner had to pick up his prescription a week or so later so I asked him to pick up mine. When he arrived at the surgery the dispensary wasn’t open. They’d stopped opening in the afternoon but didn’t put it on their website. When we complained they put a notice on their home page but if you click on prescriptions it still says they’re open in the afternoon. Oh, and my prescription hadn’t been dispensed. I still don’t understand why prescriptions are no longer double checked in that mistakes can and do happen even with double checking. Yet another thing that GP’s no longer have to do. And when my partner pointed out that he’d asked for two months supply as he was going away the dispenser asked him why he couldn’t pick it up on a certain day and a couple of other questions. It was like the Spanish Inquisition.There was no apology and he wasn’t spoken to with any courtesy. I used to work there and it really upsets me. This was after I waited for several days for a telephone consultation which never happened due to staff shortages. And I then had an email telling me to contact the surgery to discuss test results. Which I had discussed with a GP the week before.

I think you were quite abrupt and unkind in manner, Butterandjam, even if you didn't mean to be.

Butteranjam
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt because I don’t think you would have posted ( shouting) to Luckygirl.
I like to think that if you were aware of how ill she is, and on top of this the years she nursed her very sick husband you wouldn’t have been so rude.

Babs03

A tad harsh there butterandjam for someone who is ill and was reduced to tears trying to deal with her GP practice.

On the contrary. Because she's unwell and upset she needs help. The easiest least stressful next step to get help is a complaint to the Practice manager.

If the phone is stressful , write it all down and post a letter.

I agree Lathyrus a non accusatory, factual letter should hopefully provoke a decent response.
I too am in a village Luckygirl and I also think the majority of medical professionals are good people, you’ve had a rough ride.

For me making a GP appointment was the only way to resolve things, as Aveline says could you do this and perhaps write everything down so you don’t feel rushed and forget things when there.

Could you make an appointment to see an actual GP even if it was ages away? Then you could outline the list of reasonable issues that s/he might be able to resolve at once.

You’ve written a very coherent pist about the problems you are facing. Do you feel able to repeat that in a formal letter to the Practice Manager, copied to the Head of the practice?

You don’t come over as “that woman”, rather as someone seeking solutions to the problems.

A letter is less easily dismissed that a phone call and isn’t so upsetting as trying to talk to someone who who doesn’t listen.

A tad harsh there butterandjam for someone who is ill and was reduced to tears trying to deal with her GP practice.

Luckygirl3

I had thought of that but the only problem is that this is a small practice in a small village about 7 miles (or 16 miles on a safe route) away and I am loathe to become "that" patient as I fear it might make the service even worse. It is not a big impersonal city practice.

With your first problem, as soon as it was handed to the correct person (pharmacy manager) it was resolved right away.

Had you ASKED to speak to pharmacy manager in the first place, your problem would have been solved right away.

Now you've been advised to take your other complaint about to THE RIGHT PERSON (practice manager) .

Just do it. This would be far easier and faster than changing practices.

Correction - thankfully the GP could see that the drugs hadn’t been added to my husband’s list of meds

I can really relate to this. When my husband was discharged from hospital he was given prescribed beta blockers to take every morning 5mg, because he has atrial fibrillation which is what caused a stroke and can’t take blood thinners due to bleeds on the brain. The GP surgery has a copy of his discharge notes with the newly prescribed beta blockers but have consistently failed to repeat this prescription, have been in to see the receptionist and was assured it would be put right. It wasn’t, so I had to go to the surgery again because there is no way to message them about this on the app ‘Evergreen’, and waiting on the phone is impossible it can take hours. Finally I made an appointment with the GP, took in my husband’s discharge notes and a contact number for the stroke doctor at the hospital and cardiologist he is under. Thankfully the GP could see that the drugs had. It been added to my husbands list of meds and corrected his record.
Am just so exhausted with having to do this and is not the same everywhere, believe me Luckygirl this level of incompetence is not repeated nationwide. I have a friend in Lancashire who has a wonderful GP practice. Ours is terrible.

I had thought of that but the only problem is that this is a small practice in a small village about 7 miles (or 16 miles on a safe route) away and I am loathe to become "that" patient as I fear it might make the service even worse. It is not a big impersonal city practice.

Have you contacted the Practice Manager at your surgery? Mine was helpful a few years ago.