All the GPs here go out of their way to provide the best possible care for their patients. My family have various medical needs which the doctors have met with understanding, compassion and expertise. "Emergency" appointments on the day can usually be made at precisely 8:30 a.m., ideally in person or on the phone if you can get through.
Anita Kiss
Very bad service. I have not been able to see my doctor for over a year. Every time I call in they say ‘I am sorry. Your doctor is fully booked for today. Please call 8:30 AM tomorrow.’ I call the next day and the next — same story. Also, I managed to get theough at 8:33 today and the machine said ‘Please call at 8:30 in the morning when the lines open’. Then, when the lines finally open ‘I am sorry, your doctor is fully booked’. If I am lucky, I can see a different doctor. I ask to book an appointment for a later date. ‘I am sorry, we cannot do that. Please call at 8:30 tomorrow morning’. How do people book appointments? Am I just being treated differently? I am changing surgery. This is so frustrating and so upsetting, it just takes too much energy when you’re ill and you want to see your doctor. It is ridiculous. You should be ashamed of the service you provide.
Colin Janes
Really helpful receptionists and telephonists. Doctors and Nurses always have time for you. They always treat you with dignity courtesy and respect. They are always busy but that's because they are good and afford you the time that you need as opposed to just rushing you in an out. Lucky to be a patient here. Really great service. Thank you to ALL the staff.
Michael Bekhit
Their booking policy is to advise patients to turn up at 8am and beg for an appointment. At 8.25 they then open the shutters and give you an appointment several hours later. That is unacceptable. Once you see the doctors the service is fine. One of the front of house staff, a short blonde lady, is polite. This does not make up for the thin woman with short dyed hair saying "Don't you just hate the way they stare at you. I wish we could close the screen" about the 15 patients who waiting to beg for an appointment. How dare she? If she were providing a private sector service and we had the choice to switch providers she would be unemployed.
Ramona Tatu
All the time I had problems with repeated prescription and Reception staff are useless. I had to walk multiple times to surgery to sort out their mistakes. Appointment system is awful, you can't get in touch with the receptionist(line busy) and when that happens you are told they haven't got any appointments slots available for that day and to call next day....Next day same story...
Debbie Smith
The best doctors we have ever been to. The doctors give you as much time as you need and you are never rushed out. As long as you realise the doctors are often running late, but if you need that extra time you have to understand that other patients might as well. Ok you might not see the doctor you want too see but if it is urgent you can always see somebody. Can't praise them enough.
Dave McDave
Generally speaking it’s a surgery like any other, and while many of the GPs there deserve praise that’s more than can be said about some of the reception staff.
Too many times I’ve experienced rudeness from a select few of their staff and it seems that this is a continuing trend as several others I know who use the same surgery have always mentioned how passive-aggressive the receptionists usually are.
I’ve had run-ins with them in the past and have made direct complaints to doctors who have placated me in the moment, but currently with the pandemic almost all of my contact with Albany House is through those afore-mentioned reception staff, and unfortunately this means exposure to people who make it abundantly clear to you that you are completely beneath them through their tone and attitude.
It’s even worse if you need to ask a question or if an appointment they suggest doesn’t fit in with your schedule. I can honestly say I’ve dealt with my fair share of passive-aggressive and patronising people through my own job but most of them don’t even hold a candle to the level of distain some of Albany House’s reception staff hiss at you down the phone.
It makes what can already be a hard experience so much worse, and if I can be personal for a moment it was being spoken down to by those same staff a few years ago when I was at the height of a severe depressive episode that made me shrink away from getting the help I desperately needed. Things could have gone very differently if the GP at that time hadn’t caught me as I went to leave.
Unfortunately in all that time the same specifically toxic receptionists are still there, casting judgement and generally acting in a toxic fashion, but it’s become part of what you have to deal with at this particular surgery.
I guess I’ve grown to generally accept it for the most part, however after today’s call in which I was once again spoken down to by someone clearly in too much of a rush to care I have to admit it tested my patience just one time too many so I started using the same tone and generally speaking back to the receptionist the same way she had been to me for the duration of the call. It’s fair to say she was not pleased one bit, and seemed in an absolute rush to cut me off.
Clearly they don’t like their own medicine.
It just shouldn’t have to get to this though. It shouldn’t get to the point where trying to get an appointment or phoning back after a missed call leads to practically open hostility, and I’m just sick of it.
Once again the doctors themselves have been great, but the reception staff combined with what seems to be a very poor appointment system is leading me in the direction of enquiring about moving to a different GP once the pandemic is over. I just don’t think I can take being spoken too with that kind of attitude anymore.
Ian Mackey
Really sorry to hear of folks being upset because of delays but we have always found the staff helpful and supportive - especially considering the abuse they get which is not called for - and the doctors and nurses have always been straightforward yet compassionate and helpful. The desk staff do all sorts of things we do not know about so we are happy to give them a break even if we don’t get through on the phone system.
"Emergency" appointments on the day can usually be made at precisely 8:30 a.m., ideally in person or on the phone if you can get through.
Too many times I’ve experienced rudeness from a select few of their staff and it seems that this is a continuing trend as several others I know who use the same surgery have always mentioned how passive-aggressive the receptionists usually are.
I’ve had run-ins with them in the past and have made direct complaints to doctors who have placated me in the moment, but currently with the pandemic almost all of my contact with Albany House is through those afore-mentioned reception staff, and unfortunately this means exposure to people who make it abundantly clear to you that you are completely beneath them through their tone and attitude.
It’s even worse if you need to ask a question or if an appointment they suggest doesn’t fit in with your schedule. I can honestly say I’ve dealt with my fair share of passive-aggressive and patronising people through my own job but most of them don’t even hold a candle to the level of distain some of Albany House’s reception staff hiss at you down the phone.
It makes what can already be a hard experience so much worse, and if I can be personal for a moment it was being spoken down to by those same staff a few years ago when I was at the height of a severe depressive episode that made me shrink away from getting the help I desperately needed. Things could have gone very differently if the GP at that time hadn’t caught me as I went to leave.
Unfortunately in all that time the same specifically toxic receptionists are still there, casting judgement and generally acting in a toxic fashion, but it’s become part of what you have to deal with at this particular surgery.
I guess I’ve grown to generally accept it for the most part, however after today’s call in which I was once again spoken down to by someone clearly in too much of a rush to care I have to admit it tested my patience just one time too many so I started using the same tone and generally speaking back to the receptionist the same way she had been to me for the duration of the call. It’s fair to say she was not pleased one bit, and seemed in an absolute rush to cut me off.
Clearly they don’t like their own medicine.
It just shouldn’t have to get to this though. It shouldn’t get to the point where trying to get an appointment or phoning back after a missed call leads to practically open hostility, and I’m just sick of it.
Once again the doctors themselves have been great, but the reception staff combined with what seems to be a very poor appointment system is leading me in the direction of enquiring about moving to a different GP once the pandemic is over. I just don’t think I can take being spoken too with that kind of attitude anymore.
The desk staff do all sorts of things we do not know about so we are happy to give them a break even if we don’t get through on the phone system.