Riverside Health Centre

Receptionists and practise manager at this surgery are a disgrace. No manners or self respect what so ever. They behave like animals. One time it was so bad i pointed out to the receptionist her mistake and incompetance, politely, and then the Practise manager came on the phone shouting down at me, it was absolutely disgusting, and when she was proven wrong she hung up the phone. Not to mention all the dirogotory signs directed at patients all across the walls. Things have only slightly improved ever since they introduced the walk in appointments. If it wasn’t for 1 doctor who I've been with for 20 odd years i would have left this sorry excuse for a surgery a long time ago.

Even though the website states that calls to make appointments need to be made from 11am, the rude receptionist told me it's not and that it should be from 8 until 10 and told me to call the day after. I was doing a follow up and I needed the doctor to check on me for fitness for work and a medicine prescription that was requested by the doctor herself 2 weeks ago when I first called after 11am and had no issues at all with getting a same day appointment.
2 weeks ago it was a nice caring receptionist that helped me, this week it was someone that minimised my mental health problems and saw no issues in leaving me without medication that was prescribed by the doctor.

Bad Show...unfortunately a certain Receptionist ( actually Two ) will not back down if they've made a mistake...hence they will just be awkward to you and will endeavour to not accommodate you to the full potential witch is much needed within a health organisation!! Absolutely disgraceful ( the training must surely be picked up some notches!!!) Terrible practice!!!! So angry! Mixed messages from several doctors....Not once have I spoken to a doctor about blood test results...always by the receptionist??? Had to go private and discovered that blood test were not OK as I was told they were OK with a receptionist on several occasions at this practice? Really bad!!!! Incredibly frustrated!!!!!!!

Really poor service for the receptionists at the Llandaff Medical, this day and age I don’t understand why an electronic booking system isn’t an option as the phone lines are majorly congested, when the phone connected to the receptionist I have had the phone put down on me several times.

This morning my we called through for my daughter, we were calling about a certain issue however we flagged up about eczema and asked if we could get some cream added to the prescription for that too, we were told that wasn’t in the description of why we were calling and we’d have to call back again about the eczema & cream, medical negligence right there, it would have taken seconds to add that onto the script but the DR was just being obnoxious, advised to call back tomorrow for cream which again blocks up the phone line for something that isn’t an emergency, honestly this surgery has hit an all time low!

Now that I have heard Dr Davies has retired I will be looking to change surgeries, Dr Lazarus has also been great in the past with me and would really like to highlight that, but the really poor booking system is not what you want or need when calling through to a health specialist.

The Doctors are fine, unfortunately they have little say in the running of the practice which seems to have arbitrary rules and runs for the benefit of the reception team. If you are working then its not always convenient to pick up a prescription between 2 and 6.

They also seem to indulge in amateur medical advice on occasion. Some time ago with chest pain I was told I should not have presented at the surgery but should have called an ambulance. It turned out to be nothing severe but in a stressful situation the complete lack of empathy was quite unhelpful. No wonder the ambulance service is struggling so much!

No matter when you attend youre always greeted in a hostile and defensive manner. I have no trust that at this practice I'll ever really be able to see a doctor if I need to.

Don't ever even think of going near the place at lunchtime.

The issues expressed by several other customers of this practice have become a problem when covid rules were applied.
When the practice opened at 8.15 - 8.30
there was no issue. However during covid and until very recently the reception team have seemed to make every attempt to stop anyone seeing a doctor.
I am also concerned that blood tests results are not dealt with by the doctor. Surely this information should not be what reception staff give answers to.
I am seriously thinking of moving to another practice that is run by doctors and not the reception staff.

I have back pain, I can't feel my legs, I've been calling for two days and they tell me that I don't have a place and that I don't have an emergency. If you say that a man is stuck in bed and can't move and gives him a nosebleed at night and has hallucinate, it's not an emergency, then I wonder why we have to pay for some services that we don't benefit from, i.e. people in the UK pay from their own pockets for the service, but when they call, they are simply ignorant,I always shut your mouth saying that there are no places, even though you call from 7:55 and at 8 and 10 you don't have a place, such a thing is impossible

The worst thing about this place is the Riverside window reception staff. When you stand in front of the window before you speak, they look at you harshly and the treatment to wards us is bad

One time, I made a mistake standing in the wrong window. I was new and I don't know. She screamed at me and plamed me violently, as if I had committed a crime, until I went to the car and cried.