"Poor customer service"

My partner hurt his back last week which immobilised him since Tuesday. We called 111 on Tuesday night to at least get some painkillers, then on Wednesday morning to arrange a doctor visit. The doctor who came didn't examine my partner, didn't check his back at all, all he did was give him a sick note for a week and more painkillers. He advised she should call the health centre on Monday to extend the sick note if needed.

My partner rang at 8.45am to be told the doctor will ring him by 12. At 12.45pm he rang again to be told the doctor finished his surgery but will ring soon. At 3pm he rang again to be told his doctor left and his case has been passed to another doctor who will ring shortly. He was waiting till 4.30pm to ring again and be told someone will ring you very soon. The doctor finally rang at 5.30pm and accused him of not following the instructions of 48hrs notice for the repeated sick note. He was told the sick note is now waiting for him at the surgery. I went to pick it up at 6pm and had to wait 20 minutes as the doctor was nowhere to be seen and the sick note was not ready.

We followed doctor's instructions all the way down only to be messed about for the whole day. In my opinion the customer service for genuine sick people is absolutely shocking at this health centre and if this will continue there is no hope for the future. It's the first time we had such a bad experience as we have just joined this practice. There is an area for the improvement with internal communications between doctors to say at least.