Hanscombe House Surgery
Hanscome House Surgery, 52A St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 1JAContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Badly mismanaged
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 16 October 2024
I was told by my GP that I had been referred for an 'urgent' scan with radiology. After a month of waiting I rang back to ask about the referral, and was told to contact the hostpital directly. After many hours of back and forth, I have found out this 'urgent' scan was booked as a routine appointment. Once I am eventually seen I will have waited over 8 weeks from my 'urgent' scan referral to have my scan, let alone the results. Nobody seems to have any idea how this happened, and the staff at the GP now don't seem to be able to find the record of the referral whatsoever. Appalling.
Visited October 2024
Hanscombe House Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Excessive administration appears to block access to advice
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Charlotte Rushworth - Posted on 12 April 2024
Whilst very appreciative of the pressures that the NHS is under, and mindful there isn't one individual at fault here, I thought it worth highlighting the experience I have had over the past few months with this practice. In a bid to help improve services for patients. - Econsult: this is a great idea, in theory, unfortunately, when I pursued this yesterday, I was sent advice which contravened the very reason why I was getting in touch with the service, and so then had to busy the telephone lines to rectify this. - Call operator: it is not for a non-medical professional to determine whether or not my illness is urgent or not. It is also not for that non-medical professional to advise my taking painkillers and then calling back. - "Triage" service - it is unclear why a triage, in addition to an econsult, is needed in order to try and get a conversation with a doctor in person. I have spent 3 hours over the course of yesterday and today trying to get a discussion with a GP, they have suggested they called twice, which wasn't true, and then their response (in this triage) was to supply me with the very drugs I have asked to come off, along with additional codeine, which wasn't requested or wanted. - Urgent - it would be good to know alternative options if you're unable to provide an appointment on the day, for those who require immediate care, but there aren't appointments. 111 is incredibly helpful, but this shouldn't be used in theory, given the level of demand on hospital UTCs. What options are there, and are there no options to co-work with the cooperative of surgeries as you do for evening and weekend surgeries? Very happy to discuss these issues more fully with the practice manager.
Visited April 2024
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 30 May 2024
The practice is very sorry to hear of your experience. Based on your comments we are undertaking a thorough investigation and will provide you with a full response as soon as possible.
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Review titled Excellent Practice
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 March 2024
Cannot fault this practice. Completed an Econsult, was contacted within the time frame stated and immediately offered an urgent appointment. Receptionist extremely polite and accommodating. GP lovely. I have always felt very lucky to be registered here, offered an appointment when needed and treated with kindness and respect. Thank you to everyone.
Visited March 2024
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 28 March 2024
Thank you so much for your lovely review of the Pracitce. Its so kind of you to share your positive experiences and to praise the surgery for the care we provided to you. Your feedback has been shared with the practice team who will be delighted to receive your appreciation.
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Review titled No appointments available
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 05 March 2024
Wife had had stomach pain for three months. Just took three weeks to get results back from hospital test and now no appointments for three weeks Totally inadequate and unacceptable. Especially after a abnormal stool sample report.
Visited March 2024
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 13 March 2024
Dear Patient’s Husband It is sad that you felt it necessary to remain anonymous and for your wife not to raise her dissatisfaction directly with the practice. We are always happy to discuss any issues and welcome the opportunity to investigate circumstances that result in patients being unhappy with the service we provide. We are somewhat perplexed by your comments due to the following: We have a duty doctor every day who triages every request for an appointment and navigates accordingly If an appointment is triaged as urgent the patient will be consulted that day. We provide a service for patients to book up to three weeks in advance. Unfortunately we cannot control the length of time it takes for the laboratory to process samples and all abnormal results are dealt with by our GPs with contact being made with the patient accordingly. We provide the maximum amount of appointments per day that our building and clinicians can accommodate and unfortunately demand can outweigh capacity. We do strive to provide an efficient and effective service to our patients despite the challenging circumstances we face and given the opportunity we will do our utmost to resolve any problems that may have occurred. However, we are unable to determine what may have gone wrong on this occasion without the patient’s details.
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Review titled Fantastic help
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Maria - Posted on 06 March 2024
I had an urgent medical need to be taken care of these last two weeks. Using their eConsult app to describe my issue, I got a call back within 5 (!) minutes and an appointment that very day. This happend twice now - I really need to praise the amazing and fast action of this surgery. I feel in tremendous good hands with the doctors and nurses and admin staff. Absolutely brilliant, thank you to the entire team!
Visited March 2024
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 13 March 2024
Dear Maria Thank you so much for your lovely review of the Practice and for taking the time to do it. It is always reassuring to receive such positive comments from patients and for which we are extremely grateful as they help to make our jobs worthwhile and are a great morale booster. We do strive to provide an efficient and friendly service to our patients and are extremely pleased that you felt this was the case.
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Review titled Disgusting attitude
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 22 February 2024
I dread having to phone the doctors, I usually dont. Ever since joining I have had nothing but bad experiences. I have been treated terribly by the nurses and receptionists, the way they speak to you is appalling. I found out I was pregnant this month for the first time, after googling and speaking to close family I was advised to phone my doctor to inform them. The receptionists answers we go through patients details and she asks why I’m phoning, I inform her I believe I need an appointment with the nurse to which she replies “Why!” I then inform her I’ve taken a positive pregnancy test she responded by saying “Right!, And!” I reply “Excuse me?” before I can say another word “what do you want to do about it!” Shocked I say “pardon” hoping she’s misheard me or I’ve mid heard her “What do you want to do about it !” I respond by saying “I’m sorry but I don’t understand what it is your asking me” “The Pregnancy! what do you want to do about it?” at this point all bets are on the table for what she was insinuating but my mind instantly went to the worst, luckily my partner was listening in to the call as he is aware of how much I dread speaking to them and he intervened. I would like to note there is alot more to that conversation but you get the gist. Eventually I had a nurse phone me but having the NHS advice be to contact your doctor after taking a positive pregnancy test and this woman having no idea why i would be calling seems insane. I will be expecting handsome house to contact me on this matter as I will be taking this as far as I can I know all phone calls are recorded so it shouldn’t be difficult for you to find.
Visited February 2024
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 29 February 2024
Dear Patient The practice is very sorry to hear of your experience. We strive to provide a friendly and effective service to our patients and given the opportunity we will do our utmost to resolve any problems that may have occurred. It is sad that you felt it necessary to remain anonymous as we would be keen to explore this with you further. However, regrettably, due to the volume of calls we receive we are unable to trace your call without any information to search on for example, date of call, telephone number and name. Therefore, as our staff were disappointed by your comments and would welcome the opportunity to investigate any circumstances that result in patient dissatisfaction, we would be grateful if you could contact the surgery to enable us to do so.
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Review titled Impossible to get an appointment!!!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 December 2023
It’s impossible to get an appointment, I’ve been trying for over 4 months, all whilst my medical situation deteriorates. You are asked to call at 2pm on a Monday, I call at 2pm on the dot and I’m already in a queue of 60 people (presumably all desperately trying to get an appointment), I hold for 1 hr until I’m answered and then told no appointments left. I’m then asked to fill in an eConsult and I will be able to get an appointment. I fill in the 30 questions, told I’ll hear back in 2 days. 3 days later, they email and tell me to call the surgery and book an appointment. Urgh! I then call and complain about how difficult it is to book an appointment. The staff must be very used to these calls as they hold the line to either book at 2pm or do an econsult. I complain and say I’ve done both of these multiple times and still don’t have an appointment after months of trying and they say they’ll take a note and send an appointment, it’s just a tactic to get me off the phone. I never get a call or appointment. I’m very unwell and this surgery is not helpful at all. They hold their appointments as ransom to keep you calling back and sending pointless econsults which they ignore.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 14 December 2023
Dear Patient The practice is very sorry to hear of your experience. It is obviously impossible to investigate your complaint as you are anonymous and I would encourage you to contact us so that a thorough investigation can take place. We offer up to 3 weeks in advance booking of routine appointments and on average we offer over 550 routine appointments weekly with a clinician. We also have a GP and a Paramedic every day dealing with our urgently needed appointments. We acknowledge there is not enough capacity for demand and are constantly working on trying to provide solutions within our limited resources as we do not think it is acceptable for patients to be in long telephone queues. I can assure you that routine appointments are never held back. We do have a call back facility on our telephone system which enables you to choose to be called back rather than hold on in the phone queue. With regards to eConsults, based on your comments we can see your frustration and would like the opportunity to investigate this further if you would consider identifying yourself to the practice. Mrs J Ellis Practice Manager
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Review titled Fantastic practice
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Eleanor Madziva - Posted on 22 August 2023
I have been with Hanscombe House for 3 years now and each time I have used the practice, the service is fantastic! Short call waiting times are an added bonus. The clinical staff are warm, friendly, patient and have an excellent patient-centred practice. Requests are responded to quickly by admin staff and they are professional and efficient. I would very happily recommend Hanscombe House to any friends and family living in the area. Five star service.
Visited August 2023
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 14 December 2023
Dear Ms Madziva Thank you so much for your lovely review of the Practice. It is so kind of you to share your positive experiences and to praise the surgery for the care we provide you. Your feedback has been shared with the practice team who will be delighted to receive your appreciation. Mrs J Ellis Practice Manager
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Review titled Appointment for medical review
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 11 July 2023
Its impossible to get an appointment with this GP practice and the reception staff are not that helpful. I am need my medication reviewing and can not get an appointment to do this.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 31 July 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry that you have had difficulty getting an appointment for a medication review. We have a full-time practice pharmacist offering medication reviews daily so I am unsure why this has happened. Please do contact the practice either by telephone or E-consult with your request so that we can help you. Our reception team are trained to be helpful and efficient and I am sorry if you feel this was not your experience. Please contact the surgery directly should you wish to have your feedback investigated personally. Management Team - Hanscombe House Surgery
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Review titled Still waiting
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 13 July 2023
After an e consultation was informed a doctor from the surgery would contact me 11th of July, still waiting for the call
Visited July 2023
Review titled Hanscombe House Surgery
Replied on 31 July 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry that you have not had the call you were expecting. Unfortunately we cannot investigate this further unless you contact the surgery personally. Managment Team - Hanscombe House Surgery