Urgent Care Centre
Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Thorpe Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN2 5LTContact details and opening times
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Review titled Unexpected
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 05 March 2025
I came with my husband who had been referred and given an appointment time by his GP Practice. The waiting room was very busy and the lovely gentleman on reception was extremely apologetic regarding the amount of people waiting and the fact that there would be a wait. We asked what the wait might be and he said that he wasn't able to be specific and we would have to wait. We managed to find a couple of seats. These were broken and, quite frankly, unsafe and could cause an accident in themselves. The screws keeping the chairs fixed to the floor had come away. A minor maintenance fix. If I had my screwdriver on me, I'd have done it myself. After having been seated for over half an hour or so, we heard the other receptionist explain to another patient that the wait could be up to 4 hours. My husband had a badly infected, swollen finger that required lancing however, we decided that 4 hours was excessive and he'd be better off going back home and trying the GP again in the morning. But he was sent there by his GP. Surely they must understand what a waste of time that was. And I understand that I only had a snapshot of the people in the waiting room and they could have been suffering from some terrible illness but they were all walking around, on their phones, laughing and joking. Some had children of primary school age that didn't appear to be in great distress and happily playing on their tablets eating sweets and crisps. Is this just not a case of GP's fobbing people off to sit in a packed waiting room full of germs and disease when they could have been adequately dealt with at the surgery? I also understand that parents with ill children can be studied and distressed but is this also something that GP's should be managing or is this just a result of all the legal backlash they are getting with misdiagnosis and unexpected deaths/complications following poor GP care that they are scared to just send people home with rest, paracetamol and fluids? I think firstly, you should manage people's expectations when coming to Urgent Care. If people knew there was a 4 hour wait, would they deem their illness urgent enough to wait that long, or would they think it best to go home and sleep? My husband was in a lot of pain, he had an infection, he was unable to sleep due to the pain and he'd ensured it for 5 days however, we decided to take the chance and go home rather than sit for a possible 4 hours knowing we had to be up for work in 6 hours time and a result wasn't guaranteed. If the GP had told us that there might be a possible 4 hours wait when we attended for a specific 9pm appointment, we wouldn't have attended at all. Please manage people's expectations and then at least patients can make an informed choice. Also discuss this with GP's that refer patients to the service. Are you providing them with all the adequate information they need? Are you preparing them for the possibility of a 4 hour plus wait? Is there anything they can do in the mean time to reduce the patients' symptoms to enable them to reach out to their normal GP within hours the following day?
Visited March 2025
Urgent Care Centre has not yet replied.
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