Kingswood Surgery

The customer service at Kingswood Surgery is appalling. It takes ages to get through them. It is either a busy line or no one answers the phone. I had my first midwife appointment before Christmas. The midwife forgot to give me the essential information for my first hospital appointment. I tried to call the surgery the last two weeks. I was first told she was on holiday and then told she left the surgery! Their receptionist was also very rude. When you ask them questions, all the said to you is "I don't know and I can't help".

I also had a bad experience with them 2 years ago. I saw a doctor a few times for my eczema but it didn't help at all. When I asked for a referral to a dermatologist, this doctor referred me to another GP who has a special interest in dermatology in a very far village. I have never felt any "patient-centric" care from this surgery!

My nan was with this surgery for many years before she passed in 2007. I have been with the surgery and the same dr for over 20 years. I do not know what im going to do if dr Bowes takes early retirement as he is a brilliant doctor.

Just saw a message about missed telephone appointments on the practice's website. From my own experience - had a pre-booked telephone appointment; the doctor called 15 mins late; by the time I got to my phone to pick it up the call had ended. I wasn't given a number to call back on and by the time I managed to get through to the reception (after about 15-20 mins wait) I was informed the doctor was engaged with another patient (in my allocated time slot?). The doctor never called me again on that day.

Maybe the practice should look at what they are doing wrong as service providers instead of automatically blaming their customers for missed telephone appointments? Understaffing or excessive volume of work (which they contribute towards with their own actions) are not a valid justification not to, as this is to do with culture and mindset. Culture and mindset need to change if NHS is to stay relevant.

Kingswood's staff and GPs are a dedicated team of individuals who go the extra mile. You can see that the past two years have had an impact. As a result the practice isn't operating the way it was before the pandemic, but none can in all honesty.

I have found it more difficult to get an appointment than before, you do have to wait and that is frustrating if you are working. But if you have a real emergency, they will do their best to accommodate you and get you seen at short notice.

After reading a couple of reviews here, I think people seem to believe the pandemic is all over and things should return to normal. They do not realise that there is no short swift readjustment to how things were.

I like this practice, no issue for me or my son. Polite reception every time I make a phone call. Helpful and professional.

Negligent staff - losing test results, not following up on referrals and multiple delays. You have to call multiple times and really manage your own care because no one follows the patient journey.

This practice has the rudest, most condescending receptionist team I have ever come across. Being told your issues are “not serious enough” and the doctors are all “on holiday” are common occurrences. Then they reel off about how understaffed they are to people who call, which is just odd and unprofessional when you are ringing about an issue you have. After days of begging someone to give me a piece of advice on some medication I am taking I have now run out and have no choice but to blindly continue taking it without any advice from my doctor because reception deemed my issue as “not that serious”. They are rude, I was hung up on even though I felt the issue was not resolved and bought to tears by the lack of help I received as a young person. Not one reception member has been polite to me and I have nobody left to turn to about my medication. I will have to call a private doctor and get their advice (which will cost me a fair amount of money). There is no excuse for doing this to your patients, I am let down and disgusted.

My sons and I have been patients here for about 14 years. I know the difficulties the NHS faces and I’m grateful that mostly every visit or call remains helpful. This surgery literally saved my life about 6 years ago so no amount of praise can ever be enough. There are some poor surgeries in TW but this one is great.