Melbourne Grove Medical Centre

[Cassius]

I know I've moaned about this lot before but this time I am really really pissed off with them. After being told that I would be rung between 5.30 and 6.30 this evening for a nurse to talk to me, the phone rang at 5.12 when I was on the loo (sorry tmi) - it rang three times and stopped before I could reach it, and now I have to ring up again, and make yet another appointment for another telephone assessment!!! I was 'indisposed' at 5.12 so that I could spend the entire hour between 5.30 and 6.30 by my phone. AND no-one is even answering the phone at the practice now.............

Is this really just an attempt to make it so hard to get an appointment with a doctor there that you just don't bother?

[AcedOut]

I hope you remembered to wipe!

[????]

have you a bladder problem?

[glau]

same thing happened to me - not the toilet bit, but after trying for two days to get through and arrange a humiliating and inappropriate "telephone consultation", they rang me at a totally different time from what was arranged, I promptly missed their call and thus - through no fault of my own, I was catapulted right back to the very beginning of their ridiculous system. At an earlier telephone consultation a bored locum nurse told me that I do not warrant an appointment and then called me back 5 minutes later saying that I actually should go immediately to A and E. Hm.

I am sort of fed up with just moaning about this and have now decided to change GPs - after 16 years with the practice - but could there be a more organized or efficient way of feeding back on this new system that is clearly not working. Or is it not the system but the actual reception staff who are totally incompetent?

[Princess]

I too found this system at MG didn't really work for me. I have transferred to the Forest Hill Road Surgery as a result. I have been very impressed with them to date.

[SteveT]

I have found the reception staff there obnoxious, resentful and singularly unhelpful.

When it eventually goes out of business, I suppose they will kick up a stink when they become unemployed.

Managerial staff should earn their corn and deal with truculent encumbents,

it is an old complaint that was mentioned on this forum months ago.

[serif]

My experience of Melbourne Grove has been positive - I've found them helpful, thorough and they get back to us when they say they will.

[Annasfield]

I'm a bit p1ssed off with them today too.

Had knee surgery four weeks ago and this morning my leg and knee had swollen up quite a bit. Spoke to my physio and she told me to make an emergency appointment with the GP. I called the surgery to try and get an appointment and when I finally got through I was told there were no appointments available today. I told the receptionist I'd recently had surgery, but it made no difference - the earliest they could see me was Saturday at 11.30.

I spoke to my Consultant who did the surgery and managed to get an emergency appointment with him. After an examination and an ultrasound scan, it turns out I have a couple of small blood clots in my right calf. Cheers Melbourne Grove for the appointment, I'm glad I found that out tonight rather than tomorrow morning (almost 24 hours later). Will be looking to register elsewhere.

[CamberwellOz]

I know your anger. My daughter ate a large quantity of poly filler when she was being looked after by the child minder. The child minder rang me in a panic, I rang Melbourne Grove and they said I would have to wait for a GP to call me back and wouldn't make an emergency appointment for me.

Obviously this was met by a very angry mother who wouldn't get off the phone and waited until THEY made an appointment for me. It was me who had to look up what poly filler does to small children, me who had to get the information emailed over to me (at work) and me who had to fax it to them.

[buggie]

for any ?poisonings where the children are still looking well/alert/unbothered by the situation, I'd suggest calling nhs direct - they use the same toxicology database we have access to in A&E and can advise if it needs a visit to A&E or whether their ok to stay at home.

To be fair to the GP, I'd suggest ingestion's like that would be an A&E thing rather than GP as if treatment was required you'd then have to troop up to A&E anyway - luckily though cases needing treatment are few and far between.

[Cassius]

I thought that perhaps they are thinking of the price they could get for land so close to ED station - make a nice block of flats.

[Amelie]

May I suggest that you take this up with the local practitioners' committee? It seems to me that the lack of attention at Melbourne Grove should be the subject of a formal complaint to the relevant authorities.

[Sam]

I've had similarly unsatisfactory experiences i.e. the call for the telephone consultation happened an hour before it was supposed to and I was lucky to be at my desk to take the call.

To make matters worse, I was told that I could pick up a prescription that evening as the practice was open until 8pm. Left work a bit early and got there just after 7pm to find that everyone had gone home except the cleaner. I was very annoyed and left a note explaining I was there, they weren't, I want my prescription and an explanation and apology. That was several weeks ago and I've heard nothing. They've had ample opportunity to respond but apparently they cannot be bothered. I know they got the note because I left it on the counter and I saw it on the receptionists' desk when I collected my prescription the next morning.

If I was annoyed at that, I can't imagine how I would have reacted if I had been one of the two people there who had been booked in for appointments after 7pm that evening...

I shall be voting with my feet and will take my germs elsewhere.

[Colonel Blimp]

Good Lord! Aren't you a negative lot!

Yes, it would appear that MGMP (Melbourne Grove Medical Practice) is not currently operating up to speed, but what positive achievement can be expected to result from bellyaching about it to the good people of East Dulwich?

I've always had good service from there and so feel that if things are not to my liking, then I should inform them of this, and have the patience to wait for a solution.

When I phone the surgery for an appointment, an automated voice informs me that if I have an emergency then I should visit A&E, or phone for an ambulance. If my child had consumed a polifilla meal, then I would have considered that to be an emergency and taken them immediately to A&E. Similarly, I would consider abnormally swollen appendages following an operation to be a worrying emergency.

I'm doubtful whether the Forum's administrators have any influence over the management and practices at MGMP. Therefore, can I direct the bellyachers to the MGMP website, and in particular to the 'Your voice' tab where they can direct their complaints/concerns directly to Concordia, the organisation that runs MGMP.

If MGMP then fails to improve their service, after a reasonable length of time, I'll happily join up as a leading bellyacher.

?That's the way to do it!? - (Mr Punch)

Blimp (off).

[Annasfield]

Okay Mr Blimp - however it is my understanding that forums are a place to express one's views and share experiences.

If you read my post again, you will see that upon the advice of my physio I tried to arrange an appointment with my GP. I was simply following medical advice. I also didn't deem my ankle swelling to be an "A&E emergency", however it was something that I wanted to be looked at urgently.

My experience of GP's is that if an urgent appointment is required, you go to the surgery and wait for them to see you, which is normally at the end of the day. Perhaps as it was a Friday they weren't offering this facility as they wanted to get home?

My surgery was four weeks ago, I didn't feel it necessarry to go to A&E and waste their time particularly as my physio had told me to see my GP. What would you have done in that situation?

I've had several negative experiences at Melbourne Grove now and shall be voting with my feet. Perhaps the forum was not the best place to vent my frustration, however as I'm sure you can imagine I was quite shocked on Friday when I actually found out was wrong.

[TJS]

The whole process is an absolute joke....seriously need to make it simpler

[MelbourneGr]

What a crap system.

I tried to sign up with them some years ago - glad they said they were not taking on new patients.

I go to the one just after the Plough. I've turned up several times without an appointment and been seen - after all the scheduled appointments which can be a bit of a wait but at least the system works.

[nanjing77]

I've been registered at MGMP for around a year but only recently had to use them. I found the doctors themselves (I've seen two, one lady the other time the older guy) pretty happy with them. However I would agree that the main problem is the useless reception staff they employ (2nd only in their ineptitude to the staff at Burgess Park Tennis Courts...but not by much)....do the partners not realise or just not care?

[KestonKid]

While I have no complaint about the care I have had since joining the practice three years ago,

I am however experiencing a seemingly intractable problem with repeat prescriptions, of which I need several per month. I email my requests to the practice, and when the prescription has been signed by a doctor it is then sent direct to the pharmacy, where I pick up the drugs. That is the theory; in fact, fifty per cent of my prescription requests never make it to the pharmacy and I then have to go back to the surgery to ask what has happened. Usually the prescription is found sitting in a tray at the counter. I have complained on many occasions but the system seems incapable of improvement. Does anyone else have this problem or are they just making me a special case?

[MrBen]

Quick summary of the above for those who have yet to experience this:

1. You phone up. A robot tells you to go to A&E if you about to die.

2. If you are not about to die you are put on hold.

3. If you are lucky, someone answers. If not you have 25 minutes of guitar jazz funk before losing the will.

4. If answered, you are told that an appointment with a doctor is not possible. Instead you give your name and number for a "consultant nurse" to call back at a pre arranged time

5. You wait at that time, cancel a meeting and nobody calls (my experience today).

Bollocks.

[LuvSnailz]

they cut my foor off

[Jeremy]

Melbourne Grove practice used to be pretty good... only 3 or 4 years ago, you could phone up in the morning and get a same day appointment. Has their number of patients really shot up to such unmanageable levels?

[Ondine]

Worked well for me today. Rang late morning about something for one of my kids. Got a call back within the agreed hour. The guy who called back decided she needed to be seen so gave me an appointment for this afternoon. When we got there, all was running smoothly and we were seen bang on time.

[whishter]

I have been with Melbourne Grove Practice for about 3 years. I think the service was pretty good up until they introduced their new system. My most recent experience was a couple of weeks ago when I phoned up to see if I could see a doctor with my two year old son who I suspected had a chest and possible urine infection. I phoned before 9am and was given a time of between 2pm and 3pm for my telephone consultation. I was called back at about 2.45pm and when I described my sons symthoms the Melbourne Grove representative asked me if I thought he should be seen by a doctor??? I bit my tongue and did not have a rant at them that I would not have called in the first place if I did not think so etc etc. The person who called me did not appear to be able to offer any kind of medical advice. My question really is how can a person check a urine sample and listen to a two year old (or anyone for that matter) chest down the phone. Perhaps we should try to bring this to the attention of the Head of the Practice and if everyone who has taken the time to make their grievence known to the forum could drop in a letter to the practice we might see somthing being done?

I agree that most of the reception staff make you feel as if you are causing a great inconvenience by reporting to them when you go to the practice but I have always found the doctors and nurses there great.

[Annasfield]

So if not Melbourne Grove - can anyone else recommend a differnt surgery in or around Dulwich?

I've been trying all morning to get an appointment and have been on hold for 12 minutes now. I went in at second in the queue and was counted down to first. It then puts you through to a dial tone, where I assume you are supposed to wait for a receptionist to pick up then phone. The phone was ringing constanlty for 3 of those 12 minutes with no answer.

It's easier to get tickets to Anfield (when 40,000 people are trying to get through) than getting a call answered at MGP. :(