YARDLEY WOOD HEALTH CENTRE
401 Highfield Road, Yardley Wood, Birmingham, West Midlands, B14 4DUContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Appointment system abysmal
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Lorna - Posted on 27 June 2023
Everyone can only book appointments on the day, not in advance ! Appointments apparently are on the online form at 8am yet I haven't seen an available appt on the system in approx a year. The voicemail message on their system points you to the none existent online forms and seems to ask you to stay away from the centre as if in covid times. In person, the surgery waiting area is deserted! At reception the staff have had different answers regarding booking appointments everytime I have visited the surgery. I have had a Tuesday morning prebooked doctors appointment back in March of which I waited a whole month for, but today was basically told that has never happened! But after pushing - it might be possible to have a cancellation for an evening or weekend! Doctors are only triarging over the phone, before inviting you into the surgery, usually last minute. This is unacceptable for those of us who actually go to work. You have to have time off just to try to get an appointment and again if and when you finally manage to get one. Once you do finally get an appointment, then you can only ask about one thing at a time! In my instance, with this system it's going to take years to get though everything I want to talk to a doctor about! I started a treatment in March and because I haven't been able to get a follow up appt, I'm back to square one. This system is a waste of everyone's time and money. Finally, if you try to use the suggestion form or the complaints form- both have been taken off the site !!
Visited June 2023
Review titled YARDLEY WOOD HEALTH CENTRE
Replied on 28 June 2023
Hi Lorna Thank you for your review and thank you for providing us the opportunity to address some of your concerns. To try and make things as clear as possible, I will breakdown your concerns into headings: Medical Forms for Appointment Requests. Our phone message does reference the ‘online medical form’ which is available through the Appointments tab on the website – this option does suspend once we reach maximum capacity, if you are struggling to find the appointments tab on the website, please do pop into the surgery and speak to one of our friendly receptionists who I am sure will be more than happy to demonstrate how to find the option on the website. Phone Message Having listened to our phone message this afternoon following your review, I can confirm there is no reference to ‘staying away from the practice if you have Covid’ Ways of Working We do triage calls and manage what we can over the phone wherever possible, however often, we invite patients into the practice at a time convenient for both patient and clinician. Thank you for referencing our quieter waiting area, we are working hard to manage clinic times to ensure the waiting area is not over crowded as it has been in recent times - this is to ensure we are managing the risk of cross infection and creating a calming environment for patients who are waiting for appointments. I am sorry you feel we are not accommodating to the working age, we do have early morning, evening and weekend pre-bookable face to face GP appointments which I hope you can benefit from moving forward. Our GP’s do only discuss one medical issue at a time, this is so they can safely discuss and appropriately manage your condition within the time constraints of your appointment. Finally, our suggestion and complaints forms have been removed from the website as this inbox is not actively monitored, patients have the option to submit complaints or offer suggestions via email, phone, letter, verbally or via the suggestions box in the foyer area of the practice. I hope the above has been helpful Kindest Regards Sophia
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Review titled Reliable service
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Philip Smith - Posted on 28 March 2023
I have been registered with the practice for over 40 years, I have never failed to be seen on the day when I needed to be seen, neither have I sought a same day appointment when it wasn’t necessary. On my most recent contact with the practice I was more than happy with the diligence of the nurse in identifying an underlying issue, I was then seen again next day by the same nurse before being handed over to the GP’s for a referral and further care both face to face and by telephone. The team operating and interacting exactly as you would want them to.
Visited March 2023
Review titled YARDLEY WOOD HEALTH CENTRE
Replied on 29 March 2023
Dear Philip Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a complimentary review. I have shared your review with the practice team to boost their morale I am really pleased we were able to meet your expectations and hope to continue the good work Thank you again !
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Review titled A nightmare to navigate through admin process
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 25 October 2022
I’ve been with this practice for a decade, not always been very happy with the services and the receptionists but you know, we all have our mood and I reckon they are not there to please us, they try their best, so most of the time I just sigh and move on and remain patient. We however need to admit that it is a fierce battle and nightmare to get through the admin process and finally get to see a GP or a nurse or an HCA and get some care. All appointments have to be booked on the day, at 08:00 exactly. If you go online at 07:59 it’s not open, if you try at 08:02 then you’re told all appointments are gone, come back tomorrow. You may get through, fill the form and think phew I’m in as you receive a confirmation. Then later you receive another message saying sorry all our slots have been taken try again tomorrow, if urgent call 999. And it is reproached to the public to wrongly use the A&E services??? Our child had high temperature over two nights yet we patiently waited thinking seing the GP would be enough but no, impossible to get through. Apparently some people can get some routine appointments, but how do they manage to get that is a mystery for us. The receptionists are all kind but not always very helpful due to the complicated admin process. We do have a child with Special Needs, who has been discharged by the Children’s Hospital due to being over 16years old and referred back to the GP. There are lots of follow up to be done but so far we are left in limbo. We had a routine thyroid blood test requested by the community paediatrician to be done, took it to the surgery as we cannot walk in the children’s hospital like we used to. They make it all complicated, I was told they can’t do it without a formal request, “go online and fill the form”, which I did. I went down to the surgery to show the blood test form given by the paediatrician. My bad. I was told they can’t do it as it is from outside and was asked to take it to the paediatrician for him to do the blood test in his hospital or in his own service. (Erm..?) I patiently explained and the ladies told me to wait for the following morning and book an appointment online with the GP. And they were very serious!!! Can’t anyone in that surgery sit down and work out the ridiculousness of their admin process. Ok, I’ll ask for an appointment with a GP for my child to have a routine thyroid blood test that has been requested by another competent doctor. And how much of the precious time of a GP will that take, my child does not need to see a GP, that’s a slot that can be used for someone who may be in despair of seing a GP, yet I’ll request a slot with one while all I asked for is to see an HCA….. Utterly ridiculous. Online system is great and may save time, but believe me there’s nothing better than talking to a real human being if that human being has a bit of common sense and would not make automated replies, we are not even asking for them to walk the extra mile you know…..
Visited October 2022
Review titled YARDLEY WOOD HEALTH CENTRE
Replied on 25 October 2022
Dear Anonymous Thank you for taking the time to share your views. I am sorry to hear of your struggles to book an appointment. As I am sure you are aware, we do offer an on the day service and the appointments are available for booking from 8am. We do however have pre-bookable evening and Saturday appointments (subject to availability) which can be booked via our online form by stipulating you would like an evening or Saturday appointment. Unfortunately, we only have capacity to arrange bloods requested by our clinicians and so do ask patients to arrange any investigations requested by any external clinician with the requestor. I would like to confirm, the booking team would not advertise calling 999 as a routine – the team would only advise this course of action for patients experiencing chest pains/shortness of breath or excessive bleeding. If the patient deems their symptoms to be life threatening then again ‘999’ would be the recommended course of action as we are here to support chronic/acute non-life threatening medical issues.