Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Larksfield & Arlesey Surgery, Arlesey Road, Stotfold, Hitchin, SG5 4HBContact details and opening times
Patient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled Appalling service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 19 December 2022
It is impossible to get an appointment at this surgery, either on the day or at any point in the future. In the last 3 weeks I have waited on hold for an appointment for my child for in excess of 90 minutes only to be cut off or told to try again tomorrow. There are no online appointments available at all. At one stage the receptionist asked what I expected as there were 80 calls waiting and one person answering the phone. This level of service is shocking and is genuinely putting people at risk. It is not possible to submit any negative feedback to the practise manager (this page online is not available), I would appreciate an update on how this service is going to improve moving forwards as it is stands it is totally unacceptable.
Visited December 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 28 December 2022
Good morning or teams should be prioritising children with a triage appointment with our paramedic or priority GP . We are currently training new staff members If you are unable to attain an appointment for an unwell child please do explain to them the urgency or call 111 who will book directly in with us or advise us of any urgency during high demand
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Review titled No appointments
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 16 December 2022
Calling at 8am for an appointment is useless, the average wait time is 1 hour. This year I have called on 3 or 4 occasions for my youngest son. Every time I have not been successful with an appointment after a long wait. The only alternative is to go to emergency services or call back the next working day at 8am again to be rejected after a long wait. The issue is not an emergency, so not best use of urgent care staff. Also that ends up being a long wait for a minor illness. How can this surgery be open to more patients when it cannot cope with existing demand?
Visited December 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 28 December 2022
Please do register for our online services appointments are released on the day at 8am. You can also visit your local pharmacy for non urgent minor illness advice . We would not advise you to go to the emergency services for non emergencies .
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Review titled hard to get thourgh
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by carol eaton Eaton - Posted on 25 November 2022
I Have been sent a letter to go to Bedford hospital for a dermatology appointment, this is a hard place to get to as the bus service were I live is bad. I did ask at the time it I could go to Lister hospital. There is no point in trying to ring the Larkfield as it take a hour to get a answer.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 28 November 2022
Good morning, Carol Our secretaries have reprocessed this for you and you should now receive details for Lister hospital. We hope your appointment goes well Kind regards
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Review titled Unprofessional receptionist
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 November 2022
I had the misfortune of getting through to the most unprofessional, rude and least empathetic receptionist when calling to ask how i resolve the fact that they appear to have lost my letter from the hospital requesting a prescription which in itself is surely a breach of data. The receptionist advised that they could see my history regarding my stillborn child and despite me advising them that i was currently a high risk pregnancy, and needed the medication on the ‘lost’ prescription was given nothing in the way of how to resolve this issue, that appears to be their mistake, and told ‘ i’m a receptionist what do you want me to do?’ People with this horrendous attitude have no business in a front facing customer role, much less one that involves dealing with ill and often anxious callers. Absolute definition of unprofessional and my query is still not resolved and i am left without my medication.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 21 November 2022
Good afternoon i would urge you to contact our Practice Manager who can investigate this matter on your behalf. We advise all hospital departments to send patient information electronically so that letters cannot be lost or undelivered in the post. If we have no record of your letter we cannot investigate this as a breach of data as we cannot track when or if it was posted by the department , breaches of data in this way are unusual but letters can easily be lost in the post hence our recent project of writing again to all hospital departments . It is disappointing to hear you feel the receptionist was unhelpful in dealing with your enquiry and we would welcome the opportunity to investigate unfortunately we cannot do so without your details being provided to our Practice Manager
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Review titled Poor confidentiality
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 November 2022
I was on the phone to the surgery for 33 minutes with no answer at 4pm. At this point I decided to drive to the surgery to speak to someone face to face. The reception was quiet with no phones ringing, the receptionist asked me how to help I asked for an apt with a nurse. At this point there were 7 people waiting in the waiting room and it was deadly silent. She then asked me what regarding, I said (quietly) I have an implant in my arm and would like it removing. She then says (at the top of her voice for everyone to hear) I need to visit sexual health clinic and will write down the name of iCash for me. She continued to say very loudly that this isn’t something they deal with it’s sexual health. She repeated this 3 or 4 times, at what point a lady with a baby walked in and was stood behind me as she was telling me to go to sexual health clinic. I was appalled. I left feeling so embarrassed and humiliated as everyone was looking at me. Further on from this, I had a call with 111 regarding a different issue and they advised me to call my doctor asap and left notes on the screen of my condition. 45 minutes I was ringing through for with no answer. The service here is appalling and I can’t believe this is how patients are treated.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 17 November 2022
We were sorry to hear of your experience in the reception and would like to assure you that we have updated our reception team in regard to this review. This is not what we would expect of our team when supporting patients with queries. Our telephone lines are under huge demand at the moment and we are prioritising recruitment in our reception area to be able to manage this demand
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Review titled Horrifically rude receptionist
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 November 2022
Today I have waited over an hour and half to get through to reception at Larksfield for an appointment for my teenage son (he hasn’t had a doctors appointment on over 10years!) - this was at 10am on a Thursday morning. After waiting a ridiculous amount of time I finally got through to a female receptionist. She told me there were no appointments, no emergency appointments and not to bother calling at this time again as it was a waste of my time & there were no appointments. I asked what other options I had as I work full time and had spent the past 90minutes on hold, she told me there was no point calling today or even the next day either. Her advice was to travel 15 miles to get an out of hours doctor appointment, she also stated there was no point me even coming to the surgery in the morning to get an appointment as it’s a joke & no appointments are offered! I ended the call however was absolutely disgusted with the lack of sympathy, care or regard for myself, my son or anyone else in this dire situation. People like this should not be employed in this role! I moved doctors over 4 years ago due to extremely bad service, poor practise & an awful experience from our previous doctors & now to receive this treatment it’s absolutely disgusting, poor & disappointing. Google reviews of the reception as well as practice need reviewing & actioned. As an hr manager in a customer experience sector the level of service is undeniable poor & would not be tolerated in any other organisation! I am absolutely appalled, cheesed off & now trying to support my 17 year old son whilst he’s unwell with no medical support, advice or even guidance.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 08 November 2022
We were sorry to read your recent review. We are currently experiencing staffing shortages at Larksfield and doing all we can to recruit. We have released far more appointments online although our appointments are usually gone by 10am each morning. We would advise your son registers with our online services to book this frees up our telephone lines for people who can't access these services and enables us to answer calls in a timely manner. We were pleased to hear our reception team were able to offer you an appointment elsewhere it's unfortunate that you weren't able to attend due to the distance. We do advise patients not to queue up in the mornings as telephone calls do take priority due to high volume. We have also seen an increase in abuse to our team with patients who attend in the mornings and are currently reviewing the walk-in service for this purpose. we are considering telephone and online appointments only to avoid abuse to our staff. We are unable to offer your son an appointment as your review is anonymous which means we cannot investigate any further. I do hope your son has recovered however please do make use of our online facilities if he still requires an appointment .
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Review titled Impossible to get an appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Bevlar - Posted on 25 November 2022
I have been breathless for just over 4 weeks. I saw a nurse at the practice 2 weeks ago and she said to make an appointment to see a doctor if things didn't improve. Fast forward to this week and I have spent an hour and a half each day on the phone to try and get an appointment. When I finally get through there's no appointments left and nothing to pre-book. Out of desperation I paid for a video appointment with a private doctor yesterday, but he said that I would need to be examined before any treatment could be given. I called the surgery this morning and there's nothing available. I am now sick with worry that something could be be very wrong with me but no-one at Larksfield cares. What do I do?
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 28 November 2022
We are sorry to hear you are unwell. Please contact our reception team and request they book you an appointment with our priority clinician. Unfortunately, we cannot find your record under the name left of the feedback to be able to contact you. I would like to assure you we do care very much about our patients but we are facing huge demand for appointments currently.
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Review titled Postpartum mother neglect
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 11 November 2022
I am a new mum with a changing postpartum body. Having being refused a 8 week check by the doctors because “this is something we don’t offer” is unacceptable. I then finally managed to get an appointment to see a doctor to ask for an internal examination and a referral to the hospital and the internal didn’t happen and the referral wasn’t made straight away because the doctor doesn’t normally work there. I just feel that this is so unhelpful and I don’t feel well cared for or looked after.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 14 November 2022
Good afternoon, we were disappointed to read your review regarding an 8 week check at our surgery. This is indeed something that we do offer. I am pleased that you have since been seen but concerned that you feel there was a delay with your referral. It's not possible for us to investigate anonymous reviews on long and for any clinical matters such as this we would urge you to write to our Practice Manager so we can fully investigate and ensure you are receiving the right care.
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Review titled Impossible to get through
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Natalie Fabron - Posted on 28 November 2022
Have wasted 1.5 hours trying to get through to your service after calling 111 who felt myself and my daughter needed an urgent appointment. After 55 minutes I was caller number 20 this went down to caller number 18 at 1 hour 4 minutes then the phone was cut off! There is no email address available for me to contact you and you can leave positive experience feedback on your Web page but conviently your negative feedback page doesn't work! My online booking service doesn't work and I've attempted to call your surgery for the past couple of weeks and I can't get through!
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 28 November 2022
We were sorry to read of your experience. I understand we have now resolved your online services. Our telephone lines and website are currently being upgraded following the merge of Larksfield and Arlesey .You should see an improvement to both once the new website is built and live and staff are trained. We have recruited new reception staff starting in December. Please bear with us while we are training new staff on our telephone lines. Patients can support this by using online services where possible - our aim is to improve the service to patients
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Review titled no appointments
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Kim Lorraine Pickford - Posted on 22 November 2022
I have had a terrible cough for 4 weeks & have been trying for a week (online and calling) from 8am daily to get an appointment. After 2 hours I speak to a receptionist who can't help as they have no future bookable appointments. I had a telephone call with a doctor via by my private medical ins who said I have to see someone to be able to get any treatment. They spoke of x-rays and put the fear of god in me as it implied cancer. I am both scared and at a loss as to what I'm supposed to do.
Visited November 2022
Review titled Larksfield and Arlesey Medical Practice
Replied on 23 November 2022
We were sorry to read your feedback and have tried to contact you directly this morning. Please do call the surgery if an appointment has not yet been offered and request a call back from our priority GP.