Gardens GPs - We Are Closed phone message still on at 11.15..

[veryltdcompany]

Trying to call The Gardens GP practice this am. At 11.15 am they still have their "We are closed" message (from last Friday) still on. It takes 14 calls to get through. At 11:30 someone is finally answering the phone.

I'm trying to call them about a serious complaint about an error they have made. I made the complaint in writing over a week ago, and have had no response. They have cut off a medicine I need, without warning and completely failed to communicate about this.

Finally I get through to an administrator, who tells me in that typical bureaucrat / call centre "don't give a **** voice" tells me that I was on her "to do" list for today.

While you cannot get even the most basic medical care from this GP practice or even anyone to take off their "Out of office" message in the middle of the day, they did have time last week to send me a junk marketing message, on the number I had given them purely and only for essential NHS GP messages, asking me to give money to a charity and telling me that they were having a bake sale for this charity on their premises.

Can I suggest that GP practices, which cannot manage to communicate essential information about medications, appointments, lab tests etc, or to diagnose serious illnesses, are absolutely banned from spending staff time on organising bake sales, unless and until they have first managed to carry out their most basic responsibilities to patients under their NHS contracts.

Can I also encourage people who have had similar experiences with this GP, to make sure you register your complaint and don't take their extreme arrogance and rudeness. The attitude of this GP practice towards patients continues year after year arrogant as ever. I have personally suffered huge loss as a result of their repeated inability to diagnose illness, and they simply do not give a *****.

[veryltdcompany]

Some useful information - from the Which site -

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-if-youre-unhappy-with-your-gp-or-gp-surgery

The NHS Constitution says that you have a right to have your complaint properly investigated. Your complaint should be acknowledged within three working days, and you should also be told about the outcome of the investigation.

Also posted to add what I omitted in my first post, that in addition to cutting off one medicine I need without any warning or communication, they also gave me a prescription for a second essential medicine at the wrong dosage.

Still waiting for the acknowledgement of my complaint that I should have had last week. Still, I guess their cakes were yummy. Maybe they should take up patisserie? Although requires diligence and application, so perhaps not.

[uncleglen]

Since GP surgeries have announced in the media that they are close to breaking point, they now have carte blanche to carry on like this...

http://www.gponline.com/london-gps-breaking-point-third-practices-consider-closing/article/1402492

[JohnL]

As I feel I am now at breaking point also, I won't be answering any calls or responding to comments.

[Mystic Mog]

Loving your wit, just what I needed at the moment!😀

[Elphinstone's Army]

perhaps they are all busy out searching for a ginger bearded man and an Italian looking woman with a little boy and concerned expressions