PARKWOOD SURGERY
Parkwood Drive Surgery, Parkwood Drive, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 2LDContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Appointment system dire!!
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 03 April 2024
Couldn’t get an emergency appointment at 8.30am yesterday morning, despite being the first person in the queue. I filled out the online form and was told someone constantly monitored the page and as of 4.20pm today I still have had no call back and not been able to get through on the phone!! Luckily Hemel urgent care were great last night and sorted me out as I had a serious infection. What sort of appointment system is this!! I’ve been with this surgery all my life and since the big extension it’s gone downhill. I get that the NHS is in crisis but not being able to book a basic appointment or even a general one is ridiculous!!
Visited April 2024
PARKWOOD SURGERY has not yet replied.
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Review titled poor experience
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Agnes - Posted on 27 June 2024
poor experience with this practise .Ihave twice bad experience with same doktor.She tried to prescribed wrong antibiotic for my 6 years old,she initially wanted to prescribed antibiotic for 12 years plus,I asked her are u s sure? and then she said that is not correct for one for 6 years old after checking in the internet and prescribed right one ,she didn't even weighted my son,when I insisted then she did,and not checked temp at all in both occassion,finally dose on prescribed was wrong.Pharmasist contacted surgery saying that dose is not appropriate for the weight and not enough antibiotic was prescribed.
Visited March 2024
PARKWOOD SURGERY has not yet replied.
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Review titled Incredibly inefficient
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Mehrdad Pakijavan - Posted on 08 May 2024
Trying to get an appointment was an arduous task, gave up after hours of trying. Even trying to submit a review is proving to be laborious, over the last 6 years the situation with obtaining an appointment has been getting worse, once you get to speak to or see a GP the realisation hits you that it’s not the doctors that are the issue but the management of the practice that needs addressing.
Visited March 2024
PARKWOOD SURGERY has not yet replied.
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Review titled Terrible customer support
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 February 2024
I feel I have to raise my concern about Parkwood Surgery as I am genuinely losing sleep over the service provided. I am currently on two waiting lists for minor surgeries, one I have been on for around 15 months and the other around 7 months. Having lost patience with the NHS I have since started paying money that I really can’t afford in order to access private healthcare. To my annoyance, it turns out that before I can access any healthcare I need to get a form completed by Parkwood. I took this form to the GP and, after paying £40 to get a doctors signature, was told it would take up to two weeks to be completed. This was quite staggering. It is now four weeks since that moment and still I have no form. I have been in to the surgery three times and every time I am fobbed off with a comment such as ‘the person that deals with that isn’t in, they will call you’ It is absolutely farcical that I am paying thousands of pounds in national insurance, on top of that I am paying for BUPA, yet I’m still being delayed by the GP surgery. It is truly making me worried about mine and my wife’s health, to the point where we are seriously considering living abroad as we did a few years ago.
Visited February 2024
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 20 February 2024
Dear Patient Thank you for raising your concern the practice. Please accept my apology for Parkwood Surgery giving you cause to complaint. I understand the position you are in at this present moment. The practice does receive quite a number of Non-NHS Fee related work of different types and our GPs also have the responsibility to attend to patients’ health and medical care needs under the NHS. The health and medical care provided for patients also generates in itself, additional admin work comprising of referral letters, test results, clinical letters from hospital and many more. I hope you can appreciate the pressures clinicians are having to face in balancing all their workload which includes NHS and Non-NHS Fee paying work. The number of Non-NHS Fee paying work received by the practice is allocated to GPs to ensure a fair share to allow the clinicians to complete other NHS work referred to above. You were given an estimated time of two weeks for the completion of your form but unfortunately, the practice has exceeded this time limited. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain the workload of our NHS work which can sometimes encroach on our Non-NHS work, and this may be the case in your situation. Perhaps staff were being too optimistic given the workload of our clinician. The practice will look further into this matter to avoid a reoccurrence. Can I kindly ask that you call the practice and ask for the Practice Manager so I can locate your form in our system. However, please note that Parkwood Surgery runs a fair service for all our patients. Many thanks Practice Manager
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Review titled Difficult to actually get an appointment
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 18 October 2023
For the last three weeks I have tried to arrange an appointment with a doctor for a few minor, but troublesome issues. It is impossible as you can only call on a Wednesday morning and each day I have called only to eventually get through and be told all appointments are taken and I must call back next week. This is quite unbelievable and becoming quite worrying .There seems to be little sign of things changing and as always no means to escalate any concern.
Visited October 2023
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 19 October 2023
Dear Patient Parkwood Surgery is sorry to note that you are dissatisfied with our service but values your feedback. The practice had a review of a 3 weekly appointment system that was recently rolled out. The appointment was released on Mondays every two weeks. The feedback from our Reception Admin team was that Mondays were too busy and that patient may take it more lightly if they just had to wait a week for the new appointments to be released. As a result, we had a trial of a weekly lease of appointment on Wednesdays. Based on feedback so far received from patients, the practice is reverting to the 2 weekly appointment system which will still be released on a Wednesday. The 2 weeks of appointment means there will be more appointments to book. From 25 October 2023 there will be a release of 2 weeks appointments. Thank you very much for taking time out to give us your comments. Practice Manager
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Review titled It really does not have to be this bad!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Martin - Posted on 02 April 2024
I know that the demands on the NHS are very high, but recent experience demonstrates that other surgeries are far better at managing their workloads. My wife and I had been registered with Parkwood for many years and the standard of service was good initially, but it has dropped over the last few years and is now completely unacceptable. We are both in quite good health for our ages and need help from a GP infrequently. Towards the end of 2023, we both needed non-urgent consultations and the pain of simply getting to talk to anyone was unbelievable. It was normal to be sitting in a queue for close to an hour and when you do eventually get an answer, it is often that there are no appointment slots available and to call back next week. The problem is not with the medical staff - when you finally manage to talk to one of them, they are almost always helpful and attentive. Quite simply, the surgery seems to be taking on more patients than it can reasonably serve with the staff available. We eventually gave up on Parkwood and moved our registrations to another surgery a few miles away - and the difference is like night and day. Our new surgery is simply better organised - they use a well set-up on-line system for simple transactions, phones are answered quickly and requests are responded to rapidly. These differences can't be explained by demographics - the two surgeries are within two or three miles of each other and serving very similar populations.
Visited October 2023
PARKWOOD SURGERY has not yet replied.
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Review titled Absurd appointment system
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 October 2023
I was texted by this surgery to ring on Wednesday morning to make a routine appt. I waited 40 mins, the phone reverted to ring tone but nobody answered. I contacted the surgery online to explain the above suggesting they text me an appt instead. Received text to say that I needed to ring the surgery to make an appt. Rang again. Same thing happened. It turns out that all the appts are 'released' on Weds morning for the week. You cannot make a 'routine appt'. It has to be for the following week. By the time you do get through, all the appts have gone for the week and you are told to ring on Weds morning for the next week's appts. This is a Catch 22 situation. What on earth is going on? I am sure NHS England did not intend GP surgeries to run like this.
Visited October 2023
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 23 October 2023
Dear Patient, Parkwood Surgery appreciate the time spent in sharing your constructive criticism. If you may accept our apology, your practice is in no way trying to make the appointment system difficult. The practice had a review of a 3 weekly appointment system that was recently rolled out. Two weeks of the appointment was released on Mondays with the 3rd week released at the start of the 2nd week. The feedback from our Reception Admin team was that Mondays were too busy and Wednesday was quieter. They also indicated that patients may take it more lightly if they just had to wait a week for the new appointments to be released. As a result, we had a trial of a weekly release of appointment on Wednesdays. Based on feedback so far received from patients, the practice is reverting to the 2 weekly appointment system which will still be released on Wednesday. It is hoped that with 2 weeks of appointments, there will be enough appointments available for patients to book throughout the first and second week of release so that patients do not have to come to queue on the Wednesday. The practice is closely monitoring this system. From 25 October 2023 there will be a release of 2 weeks appointments starting from 30th October 2023 to 10 November 2023. The 3rd week of appointment starting from 13 to 17 November will be released on 8 November 2023 for booking. After the 3rd week, the 3 weekly appointment starts again, with the first 2 weeks of appointment starting from 20 November to 1 December 2023 being released on 15 November 2023. I do understand the system may not be simple to understand but I hope the above information helps to give some indication on how the appointments system is set up. Please kindly note that the appointment system is being audited and reviewed to get the right balance which will meet the varying and increasing demands of our population list size. Many thanks Practice Manager
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Review titled Mixed experiences
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by A Makan - Posted on 08 September 2024
I've been a member of this surgery for approximately 2 years and during this time, the experience has been really mixed. It can be really difficult to get an appointment but this has recently changed I believe and so hopefully that's a positive sign that things will improve and an indication they have listened to patient feedback. The receptionist staff have always been very helpful and friendly which I'm very grateful for as often they are as frustrated as the patients with the bureaucracy. My experience with the doctors/clinicians is mixed. At my most recent appointment however, my clinician who cannot be named in this review was outstanding. I was moved by her empathy and kindness. She couldn't have done more to listen intently and be supportive whilst offer practical support but also the necessary follow-up. Clinicians like this feel few and far between these days, especially since Covid. Often, patients are vulnerable and only seek help after several attempts to resolve the issue themselves but we do not have the same knowledge as you might expect a doctor or medical practitioner to have. To reach out and be disappointed by the lack of options or resolution offered by medical staff - the very people we hope will have the knowledge to be able to advise or guide us - can, for some, be crushing. Whilst my experience with the surgery has often been as I would expect (the bar isn't very high), my husband has struggled to get the advice and support he desperately needed at times. This has made him increasingly reluctant to reach out to the surgery and seek medical guidance which is frustrating. My view of the surgery is unfortunately clouded by this. I hope Parkwood will continue to listen to, and take on, patient feedback.
Visited September 2023
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 17 September 2024
Dear Patient, Thank you for your feedback. We read and listen to all feedback to improve our services for all patients. Kind regards, Parkwood Surgery
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Review titled Dedicated practice coping with difficult circumstances
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Tim Thompson - Posted on 23 September 2023
I have been a patient at this practice for almost 40 years. I have a lot to praise it for over that time, but this post concerns the speed with which they turned round a prescription request, because I noticed too late I was running low on supplies. Thank you.
Visited September 2023
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 26 September 2023
Dear Mr Thompson Thank you very much for taking time out to feedback to the practice on the service you received, which is very appreciated. Many thanks Practice Manager
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Review titled Reception staff
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 September 2023
I recently emailed to ask about getting a shingles vaccination I am within the group explained in the new TV adverts, I had a reply, "your not eligible "I emailed again with a photoshot of the nhs eligible group, again told not eligible. So I filled in the on site form to be triage by a doctor, 2 days later doctor rang me, and I was given appointment for the next day to have vaccination. Maybe staff need to gen up on eligibility instead of just taking it upon themselves to decide.
Visited September 2023
Review titled PARKWOOD SURGERY
Replied on 26 September 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback which will be followed through. Many thanks Practice Manager