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Queenswood Medical Practice / Park Road Medical Centre

krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
edited February 2010 in Local discussion
Not strictly SG but there must be lots of local people affected by this - the new Park Road medical mega-clinic next to the swimming pool up in CE.

Has anybody else been as appalled as I am at their inefficiency? I belong to Queenswood practice and have found it dismal since they moved. Today I had to wait nearly two hours just to get two stitches removed from an old Boer War wound by the practice nurse. I was down to be seen at 9am but didn't get seen till quarter to 11.

It's been the same on every visit for the slightest thing - queues, unexplained waits, lost appointments, missing notes, no apology. Too many patients, not enough staff, collective, impersonal. Super inefficiency or what? I would have been better off in eastern Europe about 1964.

If this is the future of the NHS (and it's supposed to be - big jumbo clinics, Park Road is a trailblazer) then I am not impressed. And I'll be signing the 'Save Whittington' petition now, just out of spite.
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Comments

  • dorothydorothy
    edited 9:23PM
    I've been twice, once for blood tests and then to get a sort of cyst removed at their minor surgery clinic. I thought they were great, really quick. I've had far worse treatment at the Whittington. I think their database has got problems. It took them a while to find me on the system. Also it was a nightmare getting the appointment, it was changed to a time I couldn't do and then I was told I'd have to go back to my doctor and start all over. I complained via the PALs service and it was then sorted out quickly.

    I like how you can park in there for free, and there's loads of space. Banana cake good too.
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  • andyandy
    edited 9:23PM
    How much of this is teething problems associated with launch v real problems?

    In the same way everyone jumped on Terminal 5 as a gross failure that was worst than Eastern Europe when it launched, but now there's nothing at all in the media about it, because it's all working perfectly well.
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  • markpackmarkpack
    edited 9:23PM
    My experience has been good on my one visit. Slightly further for me to go now, but GP appointments now available at the weekends. Woo, progress! Almost as good as the health service was when I was a child now :)
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  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
    edited March 2010
    It seems to me the NHS is going tits-up in this part of London.

    I'm going abroad shortly. A few days ago I rang the surgery at Park Road for a GP appointment before I go and was told that NO doctor was available to see me for eight days. I will be away by then. What good is that? None at all. I might as well go private.

    I also need a repeat prescription. Some while ago I entered into a little arrangement with Petters Pharmacy in Crouch End, which would take the pain out of queuing up at the surgery - the NHS encourage it - I would ask Petters, they would put it on the list, and ring me when it arrived.

    Heard nothing for six days. You guessed it. Petters screwed up and lost it. They are apologetic of course. Now I have two working days to get some pills and I am going abroad without a GP consultation first.

    Welcome to socialized medicine - I'll be dead before the NHS delivers. (PS I am a great supporter of the NHS, but not the way it seems to be going in Crouch End).

    PS Mrs K, who works for the NHS, says this is the way it is going and in future it will be routine to wait two or three weeks for a GP appointment. I have seen the future and it is the Polyclinic at Park Road. Be warned!
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  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif
    edited 9:23PM
    Oh, and I just rang the surgery to arrange the prescription directly and there is a recorded announcement that the surgey is closed for staff training.

    Do I detect a little 'sod the patient' here?
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  • sg_mikesg_mike
    edited 9:23PM
    Not exactly local, but there's an NHS walk-in centre up in the old Finchley Memorial Hospital, about 4 miles north of SG. I've never waited more than an hour there, way easier than trying to get an appointment with a GP. Not sure it'd help with repeat prescriptions and stuff, but the more of those centres the better. As much as the SGMC staff are friendly, I'm realistic that if I only visit the place once a year I might as well be a complete stranger to them.
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  • dorothydorothy
    edited 9:23PM
    A friend of mine has the opposite problem to KRS. He's being hounded by the polyclinic to go for a lung function test. He smokes maybe ten cigarettes a week. He thinks they want to get him on a quitters' programme so they can tick a box.
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