Hill Top Medical Centre
15 Hill Top Road, Warley, Oldbury, West Midlands, B68 9DUContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled In accessible service and rude staff -receptionist
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Paska Akidi - Posted on 24 April 2023
In total 258 calls this morning to get access and speak to a receptionist who was so rude and arrogant. She wouldn't even allow me to explain to her that the boys were in school so any telephone call should be after 4pm when they are back home. Communication access is a challenge with this GP, doesn't help if someone is in so much pain or vulnerable. Receptionist staff have very poor listening skills and very impatient. The practice needs to review their telephone booking system and retrain the receptionist in handling telephone services.
Visited April 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 06 April 2024
Dear Ms Paska, Thank you for sharing your experience at our practice. I am very sorry that you were unable to book a specific time for your sons telephone appointment. This must have left you feeling very frustrated, and that you felt the receptionist was rude and not listening to you. And also that you are having difficulty getting through to the surgery via telephone. Since taking over as manager at Hill Top Medical Centre, I have ensured that all reception staff have received further training in Customer Service Skills and Conflict Resolution as well as their usual yearly learning and development. I believe that our reception staff are now much better at listening and are more empathetic toward our patients. We have acted upon patient feedback stating that our telephone system is antiquated and not fit for purpose. We have now installed a new telephone system which calls you back when it is your turn in the queue - no more calling multiple times and sitting a queue. Thank you again for your feedback which I will ensure is disseminated to all staff. Kindest regards Linda Jones Practice Manager
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Review titled Poor access to the practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 06 March 2023
As an NHS employee, I'm shocked and saddened by the poor access to services at this surgery. In order to make an appointment on Thursday (March 2nd) for a GP consultation, it took over 200 calls to get through to the practice. I started calling the surgery at 8 a.m. and didn't get through until 8:57 a.m. I have a real concern that someone who is elderly or vulnerable might not wait so long to get through to the practice and this is concerning in terms of patient safety. On a separate matter I tried to arrange a sick note for my wife by visiting the surgery in person on Monday February 27th, as her sick note was due to expire on March 4th. I wanted to ensure that there was sufficient time for practice staff to process the sick note. This was consistent with advice from practice staff previously who informed me that they would need advance notice to generate a sick note. I was told on Monday the 27th by a member of the reception staff that I would need to visit the practice the day before the sick note was due to run out, not days before as I was previously told. The reception staff in question was quite rude when I went back to the surgery on March 2nd to arrange for the sick note. I was asked to wait while receptionist disappeared around the back for a few moments. I confirmed the need for the sick note to be generated. I was then informed that this could be emailed directly to my wife. I confirmed my wife's email address and at the time of writing this feedback (March 5th) I can confirm that my wife has still not received the sick note via email. Simply put this service is not good enough and I would like to understand what steps to practice are putting in place to address the issue of access. Perhaps an online option could be considered as patients are not permitted to visit the surgery in person to book an appointment.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
We are very sorry to hear that you have had a cause for concern. Unfortunately, we do have a exceptionally high demand for same day emergency appointments. Our peak times are from 8am till 11:00am, during these times we have calls from patients wanting to book same day emergency appointments for urgent matters. If you call during these times, you will experience long queues when trying to get through. We are continuously reviewing demand and capacity, improvising our telephone system and trying to make small changes that will help improve patient experience. We have recently increased call queuing to upto 8 callers at a time and increased number of staff answering calls at peak times. We also encourage patients to pre-book appointments for routine matters and not to call at busy times for nurse's clinic appointments, admin queries, sicknotes, any other matters. We are also encouraging patients to book online and speak to local pharmacies for minor ailments. We have also recently updated our telephone system to have dedicated selection option for secretaries and prescription clerks. We do have a team of excellent clinicians and admin team, who are working very hard to deliver the highest standard of care to patients. If you have any outstanding concerns, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled gone to hell
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 30 March 2023
horrific surgery 514 calls later to be told no appointments asked to speak to manager only email joke told to ring 111 did this and low and behold i got an appointment am in middle of changing doctors this practice needs to close secatarys think they are above you
Visited March 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
Dear Patient We are very sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, we do have a significantly high demand for same day appointments. Our peak times are from 8am till 11:00am, during these times we have calls from patients wanting to book same day emergency appointments for urgent matters. Hence, if you have called during these times, you may have experienced difficulty getting through. However, we have recently increased call queuing to upto 8 callers at a time and increased number of staff answering calls at peak times. We are continuously reviewing our demand and capacity, and looking at ways to imrpovise our systems. We also encourage patients to pre-book appointments for routine matters and not to call at busy times for nurse's clinic appointments, admin queries, sicknotes, any other matters. We are also encouraging patients to book online and speak to local pharmacies for minor ailments. We have also recently updated our telephone system to have dedicated selection option for secretaries and prescription clerks. We do have a team of excellent clinicians and admin team, who are working very hard to deliver the highest standard of care to patients. If you have any outstanding concerns, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Truly shocking ..
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 07 March 2023
Surgery definitely needs a shake up by the Cqc, and Gp’s lack of patient time & care, Some of receptionist are rude. New doctors there, are shocking.. defo gone down the pan… and as for trying to get a appointment.. 316 calls before 8.47 yet again no appointments ( 8th day of calling from 8am) and No pre booking appointments for 3 weeks. Also 3 times no no referral to further hospital investigations.. as they said they was going to do. Place needs closing down… poor patient care…
Visited March 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
Dear Patient We are very sorry to hear about your experience at the practice. We have always had a significantly high demand for same day appointments. Our peak times are from 8am till 11:00am, during these times we have calls from patients wanting to book same day emergency appointments for urgent matters. If you call during these times, you may have experienced difficulty getting through. However, we have recently increased call queuing to upto 8 callers at a time and increased number of staff answering calls at peak times. We are also continuously looking at ways to improve our services, reviewing demand and capacity, improvising our telephone systems. We also encourage patients to pre-book appointments for routine matters and not to call at busy times for nurse's clinic appointments, admin queries, sicknotes, any other matters. We are also encouraging patients to book online and speak to local pharmacies for minor ailments. We have also recently updated our telephone system to have dedicated selection option for secretaries and prescription clerks. We do have a team of excellent clinicians and admin team, who are working very hard to deliver the highest standard of care to patients. If you have any outstanding concerns, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Impossible to make an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 March 2023
I work nights so making a appointment is difficult from my side of things. I started to call when they opened at 8am it took over an hour and over 100 attempts to get through. Once through it then took another 15 minutes in the queue. By that point there are no appointments left with a doctor only a nurse. After they rang back on the telephone I was told I can only deal with one issue for myself. I could not talk to them about any other issue or my son. So they now want me to ring again for another issue and phone again for my son.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 05 March 2023
Dear Patient We are very sorry to hear that you have had a cause for concern. Our peak times are from 8am till 11am, we do get an exceptionally high number of calls from patients wanting to book same day emergency appointments. Hence, it is very busy and difficult to get through. However, we do encourage patients to pre-book for non-urgent matters, also you can book online, speak to a pharmacist who can give you medication for a list of minor ailments. I understand that you may have been advised to rebook, if you have multiple problems. Clinicians have 10 minutes per appointment, and they do try and deal with the main problem and another problem you may wish to discuss. If there are multiple problems and you may wish to discuss about another patients, they will advise you to rebook. You can pre-book an appointment if it is for a non-urgent matter. If there are any outstanding concerns, or you wish to directly speak to me, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Good team of Dr's and staff
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 05 March 2023
A good team of Dr's, nurses and staff. Very helpful and polite staff. Nurses and doctors are great. I found it hard to book appointment, but as a new patient was seen by nurse, who went through all my history and medication. When I saw GP, he was brilliant, ordered blood tests for me, explained medication and explained to me about my condition. Something my previous GP did not do.
Visited February 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
Dear patient Thank you very much for your feedback, we really appreciate it. We will share it with the team. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Awful
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 22 February 2023
I'm sat here in absolute tear after the hell I've been threw trying to get a repeat prescription of my long term medication, I don't know what's going on at this doctors surgery, there just don't want to help you, and thats even if you can get threw
Visited February 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 05 March 2023
Dear Patient We are very sorry to hear that you have had a cause for concern. We have a dedicated prescription clerks team, who are directly accessible via telephone option 4. The clinicians will ask the patient to come in for review for certain medication, which need regular monitoring and for an overdue medication review. I would be more than happy to look into your concerns, if you could contact me at the practice. Please also feel free to speak to the prescriptions clerks by selecting option 4 on the telephone system. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Rude staff
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 18 March 2023
As everybody knows they tell you to call up at 8am for an appointment, however I'm pretty sure the phones aren't even turned on until 9am. I have myself walked into the doctors surgery after waiting for an hour on the phone, to see two receptionists sitting there not answering any calls with nobody in the surgery.. One of my worst experiences is trying to get an appointment for my child who had a serious ear infection at the time, in which they told me I would have to wait 1 month just for a telephone consultation and that I'm not allowed to walk into the surgery to ask for help and they will not book any kind of appointment unless its via telephone. She also made a very rude remark and said whilst I'm hear talking to you, I could be answering calls instead. Excuse me ??! As always, I end up calling 111 because the staff are not helpful -and they always manage to get me an appointment either to speak with a doctor the same day or to be seen at the hospital. Its shocking that illnesses are not taken seriously, which could easily be treated by your own doctor but instead is wasting hospital cares time when they could be dealing with more urgent matters!!
Visited January 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
We are very sorry to hear that you have had a cause for concern. Our peak times are from 8am till 11:00am, during these times we have calls from patients wanting to book same day emergency appointments for urgent matters. Hence, if you have called during these times, you may have experienced difficulty getting through. However, we have recently increased call queuing to upto 8 callers at a time and increased number of staff answering calls at peak times. We also encourage patients to pre-book appointments for routine matters and not to call at busy times for nurse's clinic appointments, admin queries, sicknotes, any other matters. We are also encouraging patients to book online and speak to local pharmacies for minor ailments. We have also recently updated our telephone system to have dedicated selection option for secretaries and prescription clerks. We do have a team of excellent clinicians and admin team, who are working very hard to deliver the highest standard of care to patients. If you have any outstanding concerns, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager
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Review titled Much improved
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 January 2024
Had long consultation with GP today. Felt I was being listened to and understood. This was followed by new meds and very useful links via websites.
Visited January 2023
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 04 April 2024
Dear Patient, I am so glad that you felt that our GP listened to you and understood you. Thank you for your positive feedback, I will ensure that this is disseminated at our next practice meeting. Kindest regards Linda Jones Practice Manager
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Review titled Lost all faith in service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Louise Flynn - Posted on 17 March 2023
GDPR is an increasing problem at hilltop medical centre. My child has severe mental health issues and I was reprimanded by one of the doctors on the telephone for taking up a space on the call back service expressing she was already running behind and didn’t have time for my specific query I was at an all time low and was crying out for help but was made to feel worse than before I had picked up the phone. No follow up review of medication was given as suggested after a 4 week period and no discussion was had on how to go about obtaining this. I received no information about how or why I was prescribed medication. Now my smear test is due and I don’t want to book it after losing all faith in the new owners. I was unaware it has changed hands and after a very concerning special measures review by CQC I will be seeking a new GP surgery immediately. I feel for the handful of kind receptionists trying to provide a good standard of care to patients, unfortunately when mapping the patients journey this standard isn’t met throughout the entire service and ultimately is what will lose them many life long patients.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Hill Top Medical Centre
Replied on 21 April 2023
Dear Patient We are very sorry to hear that you feel upset following recent encounter with the GP. I can assure you that the doctor did not intend to reprimand you, but may have politely advised you. As you can appreciate, the clinicians have huge caseload and clinics are generally full or even extra patients are booked on some days. The clinician will fully deal with one problem and if there any multiple long conditions, they may advise to rebook another appointment. I would be more than happy to deal with any outstanding concerns, please feel free to contact me at the practice. Kind Regards Practice Manager