Thurleigh Road Practice
88A Thurleigh Road, Balham, London, Greater London, SW12 8TTContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Great Practice & Caring
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 10 March 2025
This practice takes such great care. Both my parents are registered here. In Febuary I received a call explaining they had not seen my father and they arranged an appointment for him. Also during this month, my mother needed to be seen and they accommodate her next appointment needs straight away. They always keep a check on their records and contact me when any check-up is needed. All the staff are so caring and go out of their way to help us as a family. We are very luck
Visited February 2024
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 March 2025
Thank you so much for taking the time to post your comments. We try very hard to deliver the highest level of care that all our patients deserve. It is not always easy to do so, but your words of encouragement, that have been shared with the whole team, have given everyone at the practice a real lift and will inspire us all to continue in the pursuit of delivering the highest levels of care. Thank you once again for your positive feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Avoid this place its terrible
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 May 2024
Avoid this doctor's surgery at all costs. The service is absolutely atrocious. I was on hold for over 30 minutes just to make an appointment. The reception staff are overwhelmed, dealing with doctors who are utterly incompetent at communicating. It took six weeks to get a referral for an acute injury, and that was only after I relentlessly chased them up three times. NHS appointments are practically non-existent, with nearly everything pushed towards private options. This place has gone from bad to worse, and it's now a complete waste of time and energy. Do yourself a favor and stay away.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. I am very sorry to hear of your experience with our practice, and understand fully your frustrations. The time frame you mention is unacceptable and must be looked into with urgency. It would be very helpful if you could make contact with a member of management in order for us to investigate your issue in more depth. Please accept my apologies again, hopefully we will learn from your experience and be able to deliver a better level of service going forward. Thank you very much for taking the time to post your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Arrogant and Unhelpful
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 January 2024
My hospital consultation saw me on the 13/12/23, she recommended to increase my medication from 5mg to 10mg, 7.5mg then 5mg at 3 weeks intervals. I received a copy of her letter weeks later on 10/01/24. So I rang the surgery on 12/01/24 and requested the increased dosage. The PersonX refused to approve 10mg to me because according to her, since the letter was dated 13/12/23 and so the ‘start’ date of the new 10mg dosage was already over. She was only prepared to approve 7.5mg and not 10mg. I tried to explain to her that I had not ‘started’ on the new regime since I only received the letter on 10/01/24, and I could not possibly make the new request without first having received the hospital letter. I reasoned with her that the logical ‘start’ date would be the day I make the request, and not the date of the letter. When I asked why she had to take 13/12/23 as the ‘start’ date, she said arrogantly ‘this is how we do it here’. She said she would give me an option which sounded like an ultimatum, that I had to accept ‘7.5mg or ?.....’. She was most unsympathetic, unhelpful and steadfastly rejected any rationale by repeating to me ‘this is how we do it here’. I was so stressed out by this whole frustrating and most unpleasant episode. I was emotionally drained after this. It is unbelievable as I have never experienced such awful dealings with the surgery.
Visited January 2024
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. I am truly sorry to hear of your experience with the surgery. I totally understand your frustration, and sympathise with your circumstances. We obviously need to examine your situation in more depth and speak with the clinician responsible for your care. I hope that this is a misunderstanding that we can resolve quickly, as such it would be really helpful if you would reach out to us so we can investigate your issue further. Please accept my apologies again, and thank you very much for taking the time to leave your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Impossible to see a GP, seems to be mostly private now
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 December 2023
You can book for about 50 different types of private treatment on the Patient Access App, but there is no longer a booking system for GP appointments. You can try the website, but all you will get is a message telling you the booking system is 'temporarily unavailable' due to having reached daily capacity. You can try emailing, but they have banned email correspondence so you won't get an answer. You can try phoning, you will be kept on hold for a minimum of 15 minutes and then an unpleasant receptionist will tell you to book online at 8am the next day (no matter how many times you tell them you're not available at 8am the next day). If you say you don't mind waiting 6-8 weeks, as long as you can actually get an appointment, they will tell you they don't make appointments that far in advance. You can try going in, and you will have the same computer says no treatment, just with added, barely disguised non-verbal hostility. The practice, by the way, is completely empty, as no-one is actually getting seen. I have tried umpteen times to get a GP appointment this year, and the only time I managed is when I made a phone appointment with the physiotherapist, who was miraculously able to book me one within a few days. Which just shows you it's not lack of availability but deliberate gate-keeping. The GP I did see was excellent, as are the other health professionals (nurses, physios, etc), as usual it's the managers running the practice - and the receptionists - who fall short of the expected standards. Please change the management - this practice is failing its patients.
Visited December 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. Thank you very much for your constructive feedback which I am obviously very disappointed to receive. It is good to hear that our clinicians are offering excellent care, but unacceptable that your experience in securing an appointment has been so poor. We are genuinely trying to improve the level of service we provide, and with that in mind it would be really helpful if you would contact the practice in order for us to investigate your experiences further. I will be pleased to speak with you, but understand your frustration with management, and in light of this would be happy to arrange a meeting with one of the practice partners if you would prefer. In the meantime, please accept my sincere apologies for the level of service you have received. Hopefully, through your contact, we will be able to learn and deliver a better service going forward. Thank you very much for taking the time to leave your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Receptionist really bring the place to the ground
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 07 November 2023
Anything from the receptionist to the the whole running of the place … poor Nhs need to look into this one because it is a joke Waiting months for an appointment Being told in November there are no appointments left till end of December Receptionist, ha dont even get me started on their attitude for people workinng in the healthcare services not only do i not want to call cause they seem so judgemental they get me so mad when i do … they need training on how to be compassionate If i could find another doctors today i would Please think twice before joining this practice and if you do make sure its your very last choice, you have better chance of getting magical healing powers than you do getting an appointment at this place And too make things worst when your on hold for those 20-30 minutes please believe the receptionist leave the phones to ring out… I’ve witnessed it myself, i walked from clapham south station to coop and back to the doctors on hold and when i got in the phone was ringing out and no staff in sight again for healthcare workers … just poor
Visited October 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. I am very concerned to hear of your experience. We try to offer appointment for patients as soon as we can, and some times when we are at capacity it isn't possible to offer a same day appointment. However, we can't understand why the next available appointment would be a whole month away? Maybe this is because a particular clinician has been requested? We will certainly look into this urgently as we are sure there has been a misunderstanding that we can resolve. The area where receptionists answer calls is not in view of patients, so again we are perplexed to read your comments. We definitely need to look into this urgently in more depth, so it would be extremely helpful if you would contact myself or a member of management to investigate further. You have my unreserved apologies for the situation, which hopefully we can resolve soon. Many thanks for taking the time to post your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled A loss of identity. Such a shame.
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 21 September 2023
Wow, how this place of extensive and excellent care has declined. It’s digital advancement has meant the place feels pretty barren with seemingly no full time staff. Maybe this is the new way, triage, docs offering a call centre style analysis- what a waste of their training … took 5 days for a text response then the advice was to see the nurse which turned out to be wrong! Reception staff very nice and helpful But again why is there such a churn of staff- it’s hardly in a socially challenging area? My family has been going for 30 yrs. And the decline in service is clear. What a shame as the premises are so good for community health.
Visited September 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. I am sorry to hear of your frustrations with our practice. Your comments are constructive, and will help us determine the changes we need to put in place to improve the service level we offer. We value your long length of commitment to the practice and will strive to improve the areas you have highlighted in order to retain you as a valued patient. If you would like to talk through your issue with us in more depth it would be very helpful. Please reach out to a member of our management team who will be pleased to discuss your experiences. Please accept my apologies, and thank you for taking the time to post your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Completely inaccessible now
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 June 2023
It's really the case! You have to fill an online form to receive a link two days later to book an appointment to be called a week or more later to explain why you want to see a GP. Thurleigh Road Practice have now said they will not accept emails, and you cannot either book an appointment by phone or online (as until very recently you could, even though often there were only slots 6 weeks in advance, or sometimes none at all). Instead you have to fill in a very short and inadequate 'triage' form sent to your phone and wait 2 days... to receive a link which gives you long slots of time (a week from booking!) in which a clinician will call you, at some unspecified point - good luck picking up the phone! - to... ask you for more information about what you want to book your appointment for, and then, hopefully, book an appointment, although I haven't even got to that stage yet. I want to weep. I'm only trying to book a in follow up that my GP already told me to book in. I honestly don't think anyone could make this up - although guess they want people to pay for their private services through making their NHS services so horrendously inaccessible. They shouldn't be allowed to have an NHS contract if they make it so hard for people in the local community to access NHS services.
Visited June 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Patient. I am truly saddened to hear your comments regarding our practice. We want everyone to feel they can gain easy access to our services, and clearly we have failed you on this occasion. Our new on-line facility is proving to be successful for many patients, but has obviously not worked for you in this instance. It would be good if we could look into your issue more closely, and as such it would be really helpful if you would contact a member of our management team to discuss your experience further. Please accept my apologies, and I thank you for taking the time to post your feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Personal Experience
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Robin Cooke-Hurle - Posted on 21 June 2023
I have read and heard a great deal negative about Thurleigh Road Practice so I thought I would post an experience I personally have had today. At 11.45 this morning I posted details of a dermatological issue on the online triage form. I am reasonably computer savvy so filled it all in carefully and fully. Nevertheless I was amazed when I received a call from a GP at 15.40 for an informed discussion of the issue and to arrange further treatment. I honestly think it was almost certainly much quicker and no less effective than making a conventional GP appointment. I know it is a sample of one, but nonetheless I am both impressed by and grateful for the service.
Visited June 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Mr Cooke-Hurle. Thank you very much for your comments. We are definitely dealing with medical requests more quickly and efficiently since we introduced on-line access. The process eliminates the call waiting time, and the triage requests are all dealt with by a clinician. We are trying very hard to improve access and it is good to hear that we may be succeeding in this area. Thank you very much for posting your positive feedback. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled Completely in decline, avoid.
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Tobi Kirby-Hogarty - Posted on 16 June 2023
Cannot get hold of them. Just cued 45 minutes, someone picked up eventually and instantly put the phone down (before I could talk) to get rid of me. Recued. Currently in excoriating pain, can't walk with suspected grade 3/ 4 groin tear. Can't get hold of doctor to get pain medication, assess whether I need an operation. NHS is understaffed, we know, but no duty of care to customers, regularly mess stuff up with prescriptions, staff often rude.
Visited June 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 14 February 2025
Dear Mr Kirby-Hogarty. Please accept my apologies for the unacceptable level of service you have received from the practice. We are trying very hard to improve the service we offer under some very pressurised conditions. I can appreciate your frustration in waiting so long to get through to the practice. Our on-line facility is proving a much quicker path to gain access, but this in no way detracts from the unacceptable delay you experienced on the phone. We will take your feedback on board and try harder to improve the level of service we offer. Thank you for taking the time to post your comments. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.
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Review titled decline in patient care
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 05 June 2023
I've been a patient here for more than 20 years. It used to be an excellent practice. But now... the management of the practice has collapsed. It takes half an hour to get through on the phone - they say "if you have a medical emergency please wait". You could be dead before anyone answers the phone. I think the doctors are badly served by the management - if you could call it that. Maybe a symptom of the general malaise of the NHS. I note that only positive reviews are ever responded to - whereas the practice should be urgently dealing with its serious failings. A practice in serious decline.
Visited May 2023
Review titled Thurleigh Road Practice
Replied on 31 January 2025
Dear Patient. Thank you for posting your feedback which I am obviously disappointed to hear. Our management team is in somewhat of a transition at the moment, which is not an excuse for the poor service you have mentioned, but may provide some context to the situation. We very much want to improve the service we provide, and because of this it would be beneficial to speak to you and discuss your experiences in more depth. Please contact a member of the team so we can do so. We hope we can learn from your feedback and perform better going forward. Thanks again for taking time to post your comments. Neil Lazenby. General Manager.