Ashfield Surgery
8 Walmley Road, Sutton Coldfield, B76 1QNContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Not best practice.
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Female - Posted on 20 February 2024
I waited a considerable time to raise an urgent medication query on behalf of my father who has dementia. The promised call back didn't occur (not for the first time) so why not transfer this type of call to either the pharmacist or prescriptions clerk ? My partner works for a surgery in another Integrated Care Board where there is a daily dedicated prescriptions line at certain times.
Visited February 2024
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 15 March 2024
Dear patient Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry to hear your experience trying to arrange medication for your father was not up to our normal standards. You are correct that in most cases, prescription requests like this are passed onto our pharmacy team to handle. For more urgent enquiries such as you described, these would normally be passed onto the on-call GP if the pharmacy team are unavailable. Without knowing more details to help identify when this took place I am not able to say for sure the reason this did not occur. If you would like to get in touch with me I will be happy to investigate further. We are in the process of recruiting additional support for the pharmacy team to help address the increase in medication related enquiries. We hope in future you will see an improvement in this service. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe Practice Manager
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Review titled Another day another shambolic experience with ashfield
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 December 2023
No option to make an online appointment. Why do they even signpost you to do this when there are never any appointments? Phoned at 8.31 and got the automated prompt that they were experiencing a high volumes of calls. What happend to the queue system? This surgery needs investigating!
Visited December 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Patient I am very sorry to hear you have been unable to book an appointment online with the surgery. We are experiencing a period of sustained high demand for appointments at this time, and have been increasing our available appointments to compensate, but understand that on many occasions demand outstrips supply. Our online appointments are very popular and they often get booked up as soon as they are available. Our phone system still offers a queuing system for patients calling in during busy periods. However, during periods of exceptionally high call volumes, you may receive a message stating the call cannot be connected. This is unavoidable and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. The practice is looking into alternative options to help reduce the early morning rush and provide patients with alternative options for getting the help and support they need. You can contact the practice via the ‘contact us’ page on our website for non-urgent enquiries, including prescription requests, sick notes and referral enquiries. Non-urgent clinical enquires can also be submitted this way and the practice will strive to respond within 3-working days. Help and support is also available via NHS 111, and your local pharmacist. In an emergency please call 999 or attend A&E. Thank you Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager
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Review titled Generally good service
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Helen B - Posted on 22 December 2023
Personally I always find the receptionists helpful. Yes it is difficult to get an appointment, but this seems to be the case in most surgeries. I’ve had to make a few visits in the last 3 months and have been happy with the level of care offered. Recently offered a phone appt, accepted it, but then surgery rang me back and said doctor would prefer to see me face to face. I was very happy with this and had a good, unhurried appt with the doctor.
Visited December 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 15 March 2024
Dear patient Thank you for your very kind words. Demand for appointments continues to rise, and yes this is the case for most surgeries across the country. I am pleased to hear that when you have needed to be seen you have been able to secure an appointment and your experience with the doctor was positive. I will be sure to share this with the rest of the team, who I know will be delighted to hear about this. Thanks again, Matthew Lowe Practice Manager
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Review titled Absolute rubbish
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Andy - Posted on 17 December 2023
I had phoned for three days for a appointment, guess what could not get one. i have had a cough for over a month. i phoned 111, they sent a request i must be seen... did not matter, no appointments could not book one for next day. After a polite complaint was told feel free to find another practise. What a complete lack of duty of care... I have since been told if i go to a&e and tell them my GP will not see me they will get a fine... But why should i do that, a&e is for real emergency's. this practise for basic care... i suspect they are not alone. May be if i turn up in a boat i maty get a result
Visited November 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 15 March 2024
Dear Andy Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry to hear the difficulty you have experienced in securing an appointment for your cough. We are finding that demand for appointments continues to rise, and while we have been increasing our available appointments to compensate, unfortunately on many occasions demand continues to outstrip supply. Despite what NHS111 say, if we are at full capacity we do not have any appointments to offer. In the interest of clinical safety, we have to set limits to the number of patients each clinician here sees per day. Alternative services are available for NHS111 to refer patients to if they feel it is appropriate. You can also access our website www.ashfieldsurgery.co.uk/health-information/who-do-i-see/ for advice on where to go for various conditions. For a cough persisting more than 3 weeks you can see either your GP or community pharmacist for advice and treatment. I am surprised to hear you were told by a member of staff to register elsewhere following your polite complaint. I suspect there is more to this then appears and I would be grateful if you can provide me with more details so I can investigate further. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will ensure that your feedback is shared with the team to help improve the signposting information given by our receptionists. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe Practice Manager
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Review titled Absolutely terriable practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 27 October 2023
Never ever no appointments you ring at half eight on the phone for half hour no answer and the. To call back and guess what no appointments absolutely disgusting someone needs to come in and review this practice will be taking it further and also receptionist hung up on me so professional
Visited October 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Patient I am very sorry to hear you have experienced difficulty in contacting the surgery. Our phone lines are open from 08:30 and we answer calls in the order they are received. As for booking an appointment. We are experiencing a period of sustained high demand for appointments at this time, and have been increasing our available appointments to compensate, but understand that on many occasions demand continues to outstrip supply. I am surprised to hear your claim that a receptionist hung up on you. As you have not provided me with your name or any other identifiable details, I am unable to collaborate your claim. If you would like me to investigate this further please get in touch via the ‘contact us’ link on our website, or calling into the practice. Many thanks Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager
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Review titled Flu jab
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Jackie Poyner - Posted on 07 October 2023
Have just been to have my seasonal flu jab at the surgery and must say it was really well organised . Went with my husband and we were both in and out in about 5 mins .
Visited October 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Jackie Thank you so much for the lovely feedback on your experience of our practice flu clinic this year. Our aim is to make the whole process as convenient as possible for our patients. We hope to see you both again for you vaccinations next year. Kind regards, Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager
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Review titled Very unreliable
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 October 2023
My husband has been given phone appointments in the late afternoon twice now in the space of two months. The calls never came. We phoned up and the surgery stated it was closed! How and why is this even allowed to happen. He was once in A&E then and most recently seen by paramedics at our home, told both times to get an urgent GP appointment as blood tests and a medical review are needed and then is given a “fake” appointment. Absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. This is utter negligence!
Visited October 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Patient I am very sorry to hear you did not receive a phone call at the time you were expecting. I would firstly like to reassure you that they are certainly not ‘fake’ appointments. If you fail to receive your call at the expected time, please contact the surgery when we are next open and we will be happy to help. If the call is with a GP here at the surgery, we will be aware of any situation resulting in a planned call being delayed/cancelled and we will contact you to rebook or advice of the delay. If the call was with a GP at the out of hours or extended hours clinics. Then there might be a delay before we are notified there is a problem. But once we are, we will arrange for a new appointment immediately. As you have not left your name, I am unable to confirm whether you have received a call back now. If you would like me to investigate this further please get in touch via the ‘contact us’ link on our website, or calling into the practice. Many thanks Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager
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Review titled Unable to book Flu/Covid appointment
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 12 September 2023
Since the 11/09/2023, using the text link, I have been unable to make the requested appointment. The web locks out and states I should contact the Surgery after 24 hours and they will be able to make the appoinment on my behalf (not so). I have visited the surgery and phoned, but the response is to keeping trying the link in the text, which is still locking out. So far, i have spent in excess of 8 hrs a day trying to make this link work, what a frustrating time wasting experience. Help....
Visited September 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 18 September 2023
Dear Patient Many practices have yet to start their flu clinics. Our surgery were lucky in that we received some of our vaccine early this year. While our delivery of flu stock came earlier than some, it is only a partial delivery and more is due in mid-October. Therefore we will be adding on additional clinics later in October when our remaining delivery arrives. For our over 65 patients, we have added on enough clinics for the vaccine we have in stock. If you have received a text invitation and been unable to book an appointment, a further invitation will be sent out to you in October when we confirm delivery of our remaining stock and additional clinics have been added on. Inevitably some patients will fail to show up for their booked appointments and we will have excess vaccines, in that case some smaller weekday clinics will be added on for patients to book into. Check our website for details of these clinic dates. If you don’t want to wait, then your local pharmacy will be running flu clinics too and you can contact 119 to book your Covid vaccination. Please contact them directly for more information. Many thanks for your feedback. Mr Matthew Lowe Practice Manager
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Review titled Frustrating experience
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Amelia - Posted on 09 October 2023
I sent my form in for travel vaccinations on the 4th September ( 9 weeks before flying) and expected to be contacted shortly, as that was what i was told. I really did not expect to have to contact the practice 6 times over a period of 3 weeks in regards to one form! Each time i was told it was the responsibility of the practice manager to sort out my appointment. There is a 6-8 week time frame for travel vaccinations so as it got closer to 6 weeks (and still no appointment) the reception team would mark my name as urgent and send my inquiry to the top of the practice managers inbox (did this 2/3 times). Finally after 3 weeks of being ignored, i was given an appointment for the 6th October (5 weeks until i fly). It was then pushed back to 10th October. I thought surely that is it now, but no. My appointment has been pushed back a 3rd time to the 17th October which is 3 weeks until i fly. I genuinely cannot believe that it is this difficult to get vaccinations from a doctors surgery. I find it hard to believe that they have paid no attention to the travel vaccination timeframe given by the NHS. I am very frustrated that i've been ignored, that i've spent so much time chasing this up and that i still have not received my vaccination. I have been messed around so much, it's terrible. I have been with Ashfield Surgery for years now and it is usually good, but this has been a truly irritating experience and i do not understand why it has been such a mess!!
Visited September 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Amelia I am very sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with arrangements for your Travel vaccinations. During the period of September/October this year, we experienced a high volume of staff sickness absences which severely impacted our clinics at the time. This coincided with an increase in patients requesting travel assessments, which meant that we struggled to accommodate all our patients at this time. I am aware of your case and I do apologise for the delay in getting you an appointment. I recall appointments were booked for you but due to staff sickness on the day, they were cancelled or moved to later dates. I understand how frustrating this must have been for you. While your eventual appointment was closer to your departure date then we would have preferred I am pleased we were still able to get you an appointment. I acknowledge that communication could have been improved and we should have made you aware of the delays, the reasons for it and offer alternative solutions if you did not want to wait for an appointment with us. I will ensure that we learn from this encounter and ensure we improve the service going forward. More information on our travel services is available on our website https://www.ashfieldsurgery.co.uk/clinics-and-services/travel-clinic/ Many thanks Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager
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Review titled perfect results every time
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Stephen Charles - Posted on 13 October 2023
I would just like to say that since visiting the surgery having several health issues, I have been extremely pleased with how well treated I have been by different doctors on duty. Most have instigated referral situations and turn around time has been swift. My last visit on Tuesday the 11th, resulted in a blood test on Thursday, an appointment for chest x-ray this Saturday and a camera examination for the Stomach also on Saturday of the week. I could not believe the speed in operation but very grateful of it. I cannot understand why doctors surgeries get such bad press considering for me personal and my wife have always managed to get appointments when needed whether urgent or not. In addition I have always found reception staff helpful and professional in there approach to task management and patients. The surgery itself is always clean comfortable and easy to find ones way around. I know Covid coursed some problems but in all honesty the surgery performed brilliantly even with the displeasure of some. I have to congratulate the senior practice doctor, the associate partners and the whole team for a job well done. Given that I have a number of health issues and involved with two or three hospitals over a period of time, from the starting point of the surgery and the journey that follows I can only say I am in safe in your hands today and will be in the future. Thank you for a great service, your commitment to the patient along with the professionalism of all at Ashfield. regards Steve Charles
Visited September 2023
Review titled Ashfield Surgery
Replied on 11 December 2023
Dear Steve Thank you for your lovely feedback on your experience of our surgery and I am pleased that your experience and that of your wife have always been positive. Demand for appointments continues to rise, and the practice is not resting on its laurels. We are always looking at ways to improve our service and give patients more options when they need to speak to someone. Covid brought with it a myriad of challenges, many we are still dealing with to this day. While demand for appointments continues to rise. Our staff remain dedicated to providing a professional and compassionate service to our patients. Thank you again for taking the time to leave your feedback. I have passed on your thanks to the team. Kind Regards, Matthew Lowe - Practice Manager