"Phone calls are never answered "

I recently attended The Surgery in person to make an appointment to see a GP after my child was sent home from nursery with conjunctivitis. My wife called and I called to make the appointment over the phone and calls went unanswered all day. When I arrived to The Surgery to make the appointment in person, the entire waiting room was empty. Not a single patient. I made the appointment for the same afternoon and returned to another empty waiting room.

My wife has tried to make appointments several times and no one answers any phone calls. It’s very frustrating to say the least.

It’s easy to say you are under staffed but then put in a phone system or website that allows patients to book appointments. Or as a minimum, allow patients to leave messages and have someone call back.

It seems to me that you are forcing patients to come to the clinic to make appointments face to face. I live twenty five minutes away and we moved to this surgery from another one due to deplorable service. On this particular occasion I drove from Derby to Ashbourne to Hatton and back to Ashbourne because I couldn’t get through on the phone. I imagine there are many patients who don’t have the luxury to drive to make an appointment in person.

Please please read your reviews on Google. The negative reviews (and there are several) clearly demonstrate you have an issue with reception staff.

You can’t blame Covid any more. If you are understaffed, hire more staff and train them properly and answer the phones, please.