Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Western Elms Lodge, Western Elms Avenue, Reading, RG30 1ATContact details and opening times
Patient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled OMG, I have no words...
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 15 May 2023
You have a better chance of winning 6 in the National Lottery than booking a doctor's appointment at this clinic.... And if you're lucky enough to get a face to face appointment, they'll send you across town to a clinic at the Circuit Lane. If I would like to explore England, I'd book an appointment at some surgery near Snowdonia! Nevertheless, I am lucky and managed to book an appointment! Of course they sent me to Circuit Lane - and I don't have a car, so I'll have a one hour journey to my destination. Also I have to wait over a month for the mole to be seen, a bit long in my opinion, isn't it? I have already been to this clinic about two weeks ago regarding exactly the same issue!!!!!! I was sent to a triage nurse who (there were 2 nurses at the time of my visit), and now is the best, they told me straight up that she didn't know anything about moles and someone would contact me to book another appointment! What a wasting of tax payers money, resources and patients time!!!!!! I have been to several GP surgeries in Reading but Western Elms is the worst of them.... NHS, please sort this mess out!
Visited May 2023
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 17 May 2023
Dear Patient I am sorry to hear of your disappointment in the Surgery. We had 11 GP's and a further 11 clinicians working across both surgeries yesterday, delivering face to face, home visits and telephone appointments. This is not unusual, and we are in a better place than some of our colleagues locally; however whatever we have, we would need more. Having two surgeries enables us to have this number of clinicians delivering face to face appointments so we see it as a benefit. I completely understand that our patients might prefer one or the other and would encourage them to advise the patient services team this is the case, however it will have a bearing on the urgency or how far ahead you can book. Our appointments are available up to 6 weeks ahead. This should help those with chronic conditions to manage them proactively and support us in the delivery of on the day emergency challenges. If we could educate patients to do this, then there would be less need for emergency appointments so we could convert even more to face to face. Sadly, we have no cap in a day of what we see that is classed as an emergency so there has to be some capacity there. I can promise you we are never left with an appointment free but have to find them from somewhere. All our staff are mentored on a daily basis by a lead GP who can discuss any issues they may have so I am very shocked that someone would see you and say they know nothing about a patients issue without calling them in to support them. Unfortunately, as your comments are anonymous I cannot investigate this nor put it right for you. I am also unable to see if I can help facilitate you in a different appointment more to your convenience at Western Elms. If you would like me to pursue this further, please email we.scripts@nhs.net quoting reference NHSC150322 for the attention of Lisa and Jane. We would be happy to help you. Regards Lisa Practice Manager
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Review titled Excellent practice!
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Francoise Cesar - Posted on 20 April 2023
I have just had a telephone consultation with a doctor at the surgery and bearing in mind that seemingly most people only give feedback to complain I thought I would say how helpful, thorough and caring the doctor was … as always. I have nothing but praise and thanks for the attentions I receive from Circuit Lane/Western Elms.
Visited April 2023
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 09 May 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for taking the time to relay your positive comments to us. It certainly makes a difference and I will be sure to share with the team. Kind regards Lisa Practice Manager
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Review titled Caring as always
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Neil Buchan - Posted on 22 March 2023
I felt it was once more time for me to express my gratitude to the medical and the administrative staff at Circuit Lane Surgery. There is so much bad press these days about GP surgeries and I find ‘my’ surgery so caring, responsive, competent and proactive. As the years go by, these factors become ever more important to one’s day-to-day well-being, having the comfort of knowing that if I do present with health issues they will be promptly and properly attended to. Well done guys, and thank you!
Visited March 2023
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 31 March 2023
Thank you Mr Buchan for your kind comments. I will be sure to share with the team. They certainly do help to make everyone smile. Kind regards Lisa PM
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Review titled Terrible practice
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 16 March 2023
Over the last few years the level of care and service from this practice has steadily declined. It's almost impossible to arrange an appointment unless it's an emergency, there's no continuity of care for follow up appointments. Today I've had a phone appointment booked, the gp did call but as soon as I answered they hung up and then I received a text saying that I missed my phone appointment!!. I called back to wait on hold for ages to be told that the gp would call me again. 5 minutes before closing I called again to be told the GP had left for the day and my only option was to go through the same process tomorrow. This is 4 months after my initial contact for the same issue which is still unresolved, there have been errors at every point. Appointments booked incorrectly, blood tests have been either lost or missed and had to be repeated, phone appointments haven't been completed, medication hasn't been reviewed and no one seems able to resolve any of the issues. Separately specialised referrals haven't been carried out and GP's have on occasion been rude and insensitive. The receptionists do their best in an impossible situation and all of the nursing staff have been professional. I will be moving surgery.
Visited March 2023
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 31 March 2023
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. I am terribly sorry to hear that your experience of the practice has declined. We do have problems with the volume of calls especially at certain times of the day. Despite changing phone systems and a massive recruitment drive we still have not been able to make this much better. Many of my colleagues across Berkshire have exactly the same feedback. This does not mean however that we stop trying to improve things. I am more concerned however that you say our GP's are rude and hang up on you. If I were able to have your details, I would be able to listen to calls and understand what has happened here. We would not tolerate rudeness. I would also like to understand more about your missing referrals which I can only do if I know who you are. It seems to be a catalogue of disasters for which I am sorry and would like to resolve. If you would like to help me understand your plight and put things right, please email we.scripts@nhs.net with reference NHSEC160323 and I will be in contact with you to arrange how we might do this. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards Lisa Practice Manager
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Review titled Oversubscribed surgery bad management and rude staff
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 January 2023
Unhelpful staff, they ask you to call in the morning for an appointment but you get an engaged tone when you call , call anytime later and you have to wait 45min to 1hr just to get through to the reception even the doctors are unhelpful, dont respond to letters going to them from specialists in time, you have to call in to remind them of any blood tests that have been requested by specialist consultants from the hospital, I urgently needed referral to a specialist consultant and they did not put that through.
Visited January 2023
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 26 February 2023
Dear Patient I am terribly sorry as it sounds like you have not had a good experience with us. It would be helpful if you could contact us on we.scripts@nhs.net with some personal details so that we can investigate this further. It would help us to learn or be able to sort out these issues for us but also to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. Please quote NHSC040123. Regards Lisa - PM
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Review titled Unhelpful, borderline rude reception staff
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 17 December 2022
I phoned for an urgent appointment as I was in severe pain, and, having waited the expected half hour in the phone queue, was told immediately that no doctor would be available. Uncertain what to do next, I called 111 who, once I had described my symptoms, told me that I indeed needed to see a doctor very urgently, that they would write a referral to the surgery to that effect, and that I should call them back. I did as told, and was told ”we’ve already told you there’s no appointment available”. The tone was unpleasant and belittling. There was a clear implication that I had not understood or accepted the result of the previous call. At no time was I asked about my symptoms. I then went to A&E, presumably being a greater burden on the NHS than would otherwise have been the case. I fully understand that Western Elms, in common with doctors’ surgeries up and down the country, is not in a position to provide a full service and that this is for reasons beyond their control. However, there is no excuse for the unhelpful, borderline rude behaviour I was subjected to by the reception staff. These people need to understand that they are dealing with patients who are genuinely seeking help at a time of uncertainty and vulnerability. This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable.
Visited December 2022
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 19 December 2022
Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry that you were unable to get an appointment when you required it, the demand has been off the scale currently. I am more concerned however that you felt the receptionist was rude to you. This would not be acceptable and I would be pleased to listen to the call for training purposes but am unable to identify any further details. If you would be happy to contact me with your details and phone number quoting ref NHSC171222 on we.scripts@nhs.net, I can investigate this further thus ensuring it does not happen again. I can also better understand the details around your appointment to see what might have gone wrong. Regards Lisa PM
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Review titled Great practice
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Kate - Posted on 28 May 2024
I used the surgery for 5 years and had a very good experience. It is a large and busy practice but I had a number of issues that were potentially serious/concerning and the practice dealt with them quickly and this was very reassuring. I felt they appropriately prioritised urgent and less urgent issues. I spoke with a number of doctors and they were all very kind, polite and gave pragmatic advice. Getting an appointment could sometimes be difficult, but given the pressure the NHS is under I felt the service remained very good.
Visited December 2022
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 29 May 2024
Dear Patient Thank you for your kind feedback on NHS Choices. We do realise that it is not always easy to navigate the appointment systems at the surgery but we are always trying hard to improve things for our patients. It is good to hear that we do have it right sometimes. I will pass on your comments to the staff in our feedback reviews. Kind regards Lisa PM
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Review titled Excellent physiotherapist
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 22 November 2022
After suddenly getting severe sciatica pain I rang the surgery who tried to guide me to the best way forward for treatment. The receptionist was polite and caring and advised me to make an appointment with the physiotherapist at circuit lane . I saw him within a couple of days and was given an assessment and advice to ease the sciatica pain . I have been very concerned about the surgery before due to waiting ages to see a dr and not particularly helpful receptionists but this time I can’t fault you! Wish I knew the name of the receptionist as she was very caring which makes all the difference when you’re in pain .
Visited November 2022
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 31 March 2023
Thank you for your excellent feedback on our Physio team and also the care you received from our receptionists. I will be sure to pass to all. Best wishes Lisa
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Review titled Good first experience
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 19 August 2022
Found receptionist and doctor very helpful and efficient. Did not have to wait long for an appointment.
Visited August 2022
Review titled Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries
Replied on 31 March 2023
Thank you for your kind comments. It is nice to hear and good to share with the team. Best wishes Lisa