The Penrhyn Surgery
2A Penrhyn Avenue, Walthamstow, London, Greater London, E17 5DBContact details and opening times
Patient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled Avoid this surgery
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 08 September 2022
This surgery is utterly dysfunctional. It’s impossible to get a face-to-face appointment, the online booking system is awful and the phones are rarely answered. Since joining this surgery in 2020, I have never seen a doctor face to face because you are always referred to their e-Consult system. A random GP will make one attempt to phone you at some point during the day and, if you miss the call, you’ve lost your appointment. Every GP I’ve spoken to on the phone has been curt and dismissive - you’re lucky to get five minutes with them. This week, e-Consult isn’t working and nobody is picking up the phone, so I don’t have a GP, apparently. I’ll have to phone 111 to get an appointment elsewhere. If you want an actual doctor who will see you and listen to your problems and concerns, avoid this surgery. It’s so stressful to have to work so hard just to speak to a disinterested locum who knows nothing about you and can’t be bothered to give you the time of day. The surgery is far too small for the area it serves and its over-reliance on locums and telephone consultations has created a horrible experience for patients.
Visited September 2022
The Penrhyn Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Bad practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 21 September 2022
Impossible to get hold of anyone via the phone. It says you are in the queue, number 7. You wait for 15mins or so then it disconnects. You try again and same thing happens. The econsult hardly works, I have screenshots telling you to check tomorrow morning at 8.30. Whe you do, it doesn't work. On one occasion, I called the practice whilst I was Inside, the receptionist were not on the phone, yet it had the same default 7 in the queue then disconnects
Visited September 2022
The Penrhyn Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Dysfunctional booking system - please reply
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Depressed patient please reply - Posted on 24 September 2022
Dear Penhryn Surgery I know that the surgery is over stretched and under-funded and don’t want to complain, but do want to give you feedback so you can understand the issues and hopefully make improvements. I notice you haven’t replied to any feedback lately - please do reply. Now that Covid is ostensibly over, I’m not sure why the system seems so broken and can’t go back to a version of the booking system pre-Covid? These are some of my experiences: 1. The GP Patient booking app on my phone took me through long convoluted questions and at the end just either told me to ring 111 or said it couldn’t process my query. 3. I went to the surgery and was told to either ring the next day at 8am or use the app as the appointments were full for the day. They didn’t seem able to make future appointments. 4. I tried phoning every day but found it very hard to get through, often being up to 10th in the queue. I can’t keep on the phone that long. Often I can’t ring at 8am. 5. When I did get a telephone appointment the window for the call back was 9-1pm and although I walked around all morning with my mobile headphones in my ear, I must have gone out of range and missed the call twice. The appointment was then cancelled for a week. 6. After that time I called the surgery (another long queue) and they told me there is now a new booking system online (how would patients know though?). The Klinik online system has a very long questionnaire. I think I missed a couple of questions and at the end of filling it in for 20 mins it gave me an error message. Luckily I had cut and pasted my answers into a Word doc and could do it again. However, when I went to do it again it said that the system was now down until 6pm. I rang the surgery (6 people in the queue) and they said the system shuts down when there are no more appointments left and would be up again for 15 mins between 11-11.15 (again, how would I know?). I re-submitted the form which sent. However, I didn’t get a call, but I do seem to have received a hospital video appointment which I presume is as a consequence, so at least that did work. My concern about this system is - what if you can’t get online at 8.30 to book an appointment because of other important life commitments? What if you need an appointment quickly but there is no booking facility as it’s full? Even when it is full, why can’t you submit your appointment request and it be held in reserve for if an appointment becomes free, or to be triaged for anything urgent throughout the day? Why can’t we book on the phone without waiting for a very long time given that presumably lots of pressure has been taken off the phone lines as people will be using the computer system? What would have happened if I needed an urgent or even a semi-urgent appointment? Going to hospital is not the answer for most conditions and merely clogs up the hospital system. I am so sad that the GP’s surgery operations has deteriorated so badly. Please reply
Visited September 2022
Review titled The Penrhyn Surgery
Replied on 16 November 2023
Dear Patient, Thank you for your feedback. Please accept our apologies for the late reply. Your comments are very valuable to us, as they enable us to improve our service. We are sorry that you are not happy with the service, and we would very much like to look into your contact with the practice. 1. Regarding our appointment system, we have recently conducted a survey to analyse how many calls need to be made at peak times or could be managed later. This will allow us to communicate this information with our patients. The surgery is planning to change the telephone systems based on the survey results. 2. Please contact the surgery on 02085272563. We now have a triage team that will assess and book urgent appointments on the same day. Any non-urgent appointments can be booked for the future. 3. If you have any health concerns or administrative queries, please reach out to us through our Online Contact at klinik.co.uk. We are receiving an enormous number of queries online. Whenever we reach full capacity, the online services will reopen on the next weekday. 4. Our practice is now working in collaboration with the Waltham Forest GP Federation. You can now book appointments outside of regular hours on weekdays from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm and on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. To book these appointments, please contact the out-of-hours GP on 02085193999. Lines are open from 9 am to 9 pm on weekdays and 9 am to 5 pm on Saturdays. 5. We are very happy that you were looked after by the hospital when you were in need. We are very glad that you are alright. If you are in an emergency, please call 999 without any hesitation or contact 111. As you left your review anonymously, we are not able to contact you. If you would like to discuss this further with management, please feel free to contact the surgery on 02085272563 or penrhyn.surgery@nhs.net and a member of our team will assist you. Once again, please accept our sincerest apologies on behalf of the team. Many thanks, Management.
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Review titled E Consult off and phones engaged still after 30 mins
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 06 September 2022
I was trying to make an appointment. E consult is turned off when it is "over capacity' and the phone time wait is over 30 mins which is too long to wait I have tried to make an appointment for over two weeks and can only conclude I no longer have a GP.
Visited September 2022
The Penrhyn Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Ignored when advised to make urgent appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 08 September 2022
My partner was advised by 111 to see the gp immediately. After waiting on hold for 47 mins we were able to get through to someone who said we should await a text message. We were sent a message to which we responded, but did not hear back from the surgery. The day after, we sent a message asking what was happening and did not receive a response. Today, three days after initially making contact with the gp we tried calling again first thing in the morning. After waiting on hold for 36 minutes we were connected to reception, only for the person to hang up! When we tried calling again we were number 6 in the que and didn't have time to wait. So this is now day three without an appointment from the surgery after 111 advised we see a gp immediately. It's quite shocking really.
Visited September 2022
The Penrhyn Surgery has not yet replied.
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Review titled Terrible surgery
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 September 2022
Absolutely appalling. Avoid this surgery! Cannot get through on the phone. Online forms for booking don’t work or stop functioning once all appointments taken for that day. Completely impossible to get an appointment. Feels like I don’t have a GP anymore as their response (when you finally get through) is always to phone 111 or go to A&E! Reception staff are unhelpful and rude. Tried to register another family member and no response for weeks- no idea if it’s being processed. I’m trying to register elsewhere because it’s too stressful to deal with the lack of service when you are ill and need to see/speak to GP.
Visited September 2022
The Penrhyn Surgery has not yet replied.