Woosehill Medical Centre Review

An excellent Medical Centre with wonderful nurses and staff over the thirty years or so they have cared for my wife and me.

I don't think there are any doctors at this practice, you never see any coming in or going out and you certainly won't get an appointment with any. The booking system is ridiculous at best. I think it's a conspiracy to hide that there are no doctors here. The receptionists are essentially the only people in this building to give you medical advice but they haven't been through university, at least for medicine so not very useful.
If you can find somewhere else to go, do. Even a dead badger on the road would be more help than Woosehill Surgery.

Absolutely ridiculous surgery I have seen so far. To get one appointment it will take ages. The terrible part is " Few people in the Receptionist team" in the surgery, they need to be removed immediately. The way they are talking to the patients are very rude, one lady asked "are you dieing now" to take the appointment. You can understand now the behaviour of the receptionists in the surgery. Respected GP Head, please look into this matter immediately and requesting you to either remove or the train the good manners to the Receptionist team. Unfortunately without giving one star, i am not able to post this, so hardly giving one star.

Don't bother trying to call and get an appointment on the same day, receptionists ignore the phones and you'll never get through. There's no waiting system for their phone lines, so it's just pot luck if they decide to answer or not.

Poor handling of our original registration too. I applied with my girlfriend, and they wanted proof of ID and proof of address. We gave them our drivers licenses, thinking that it would cover both bases (especially considering it's a legal document). Receptionists happily accepted and made copies.

A week later we had a call saying that it was not sufficient and that we need to come in AGAIN. So we both came in and gave them our council tax bill, as it had both of our names on it. Receptionists happily accepted and made a copy.

Two weeks went by, and we had confirmation that my girlfriend was accepted, but not me. So I called them up to find out what was causing the delay. Turns out they didn't think to use the same council tax copy for both applications, so I was never approved and no one thought to tell me. So I had to go in AGAIN with the same document.

Eventually I was registered. Not that I've been able to use the GP at all seeing as it's basically impossible to get an appointment. I wouldn't bother going here as their staff can't handle the volume of patients they currently have.

Given an extra star because the car park is nice.

I have recently transferred from Wokingham Medical Centre and I am more than happy with the highly professional service so far!

Very pleased with recent emergency situation. Appointment given with prescribing nurse the same day at which heavy duty antibiotics were prescribed, followed by appointment with a doctor 24 hrs later to monitor the situation.

Got a sit and wait appointment with a doctor about ear problem and was pescribed some drops, my ear swelled up over a couple of days and tried to make another but was told no appointments and to carry on with the drops by receptionist. Was worried it may be infected as the inner canal had closed and it felt like something was crawling around in there. Was told to go to pharmacy to get advice or ring 111. I rang 111 and they asked me a series of questions and then said they will send the notes over to my surgery and for me to ring them back for an appointment. I did but they still said they hadn't an appointment but said they had an appointment with the nurse the next day. I was up half the night with my right side of my face frobing my ear glowing red and the sensation that something was crawling around in my ear. When I went to my appointment I was told to stop the ear drops and was pescribed antibiotics and a streriod earspay and she couldn't see in my ear as the canal has swollen closed.

Again like a lot of your comments the receptionist give advice like "carry on with the drops" when they don't have a clue of your history or any medical training...... really!

There seems to be a pattern here from the comments I've read recently and recommend an internal investigation.

One of the worst GPs in the UK based on my personal experience with them. For starters they lost my online access forms which I had to painstakingly print at home ensuring they fit into an A4. Strange how the old and sick managed to do that with zero help from the GP, in spite of which they lost my application forms for my entire family.

Staff is very unfriendly esp. the old ladies at reception who answer with a stone face and are glad if you don't find an appointment with the doctor even if you turned up @ 7:50 am to get lucky.

If it wasn't for the good natured nurses, I'd have given this practice zero stars since they don't deserve any. Even recently when I went to them for my wife's unexplained vomiting episode which continued through the night, they told me point blank that they can't do ANYTHING about it!

Worse the 111 service as usual wasted our time by asking totally unnecessary questions when the patient needed immediate help than get stuck in a useless conversation for 40 mins. In the end, we had to buy over the counter medicine from a local store to rectify the issue.

They also have a useless mobile app which doesn't let you book appointment even before the pandemic started. What's the point in applying for an online account?

Please don't play with patient's lives.

Incredibly difficult to get an appointment ended up with sit and wait again....... Was trying to reach reception from 8am....line busy until 8:20 after that they are fully booked for the day :-(
Ladies at the reception desk very nice and polite .

If you can actually get to see a doctor you'll get a great service. The problem with this surgery is the reception/Admin staff.

Extremely rude, unprofessional and will speak to you like you're nothing but an irritation on their day.
A serious lack of empathy and people skills.

Save yourselves the hassle and register else where.

I am unable to get an appointment with a midwife when needed as the receptionist thought I should come and see a GP before making an appointment. This is incorrect and I am now unable to get an appointment for the correct window as I've been waiting too long with the incorrect information. I am very dissappointed with this service! You would think I would be given the correct information to inform me of my next step. Disgraceful!

So the care you will get will be good. The issue is getting an appointment. The system they have only allows you to book for that day, or the same day the following week or the week after. By the time you get through all of the appointments will be gone!

Its a great surgery! As long as you dont need an appointment that is. Or a sick note. Or any help of any nature. Ignore these minor issues and its simply the best!

Surgeries these days tell you to call them at 8 in the morning to book a same day appointment which is what you would want if you are, you know, sick or something. We are all now used to dialling and waiting to speak to someone at 8 in the morning and usually you are in a queue at number 17 or something and after a while you get through and take it from there

But the fine folks at Woosehill Medical Practice take it to a whooooooole new level. Ring them at 7:59 and a message says the surgery is not open yet. Ring them at 8:00 and you think a message would say press 1 for appointments and join the queue but oh no! You get an engaged tone. So you try again. You get another engaged tone. Rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat repeat repeat repeat! Finally get through and get told to press 1 for appointments. You do that and what do you get? Another engaged tone!! So back to the drawing board we go!

Finally get through and wouldnt you know who won the pony! You are told all appointments have been booked for the day so call back at 8 am tomorrow. Goodbye!

Now thats just a whole another level of suck!

But hey even a blind squirrel eventually finds an acorn so try the next day and after a mere 67 attempts at dialling, finally get an appointment for a call back from the doctor so success at last!

In all seriousness though, i think its a fantastic practice for patients with low blood pressure. Just try and book an appointment and it will shoot up. Guaranteed. Plus they will make you doubt so much about whether you are actually sick or in need of a doctor that you will eventually convince yourself as well and get better. Or pass away. One of the two.

I have just spent hours on speaker phone attempting to book a flu jab. Started at no 7 in the phone queue, I went down to 2, then back up to 7 waited again went down to 2, then up to 7 again. After this had happened 4 times, I admitted defeat and gave up. Just how do you contact this surgery.

Why am I being asked of symptoms by receptionist even thought there were no appointments anyway?

Very bad gp services. I wouldn't recommend to anyone. I don't even want to give it any star, don't deserve it. Even though you are told by 111 to go see gp, you need to call them first. They don't understand or care about emergencies.

They didn t even tell me that my main doctor left. So i phoned to get my results of a MRI scan 4 x weeks later. Tried to call them first thing in the morning to get an appointment (line busy) for a good 2 x hours. Eventually got through but there is a waiting period. I am get referred over to another surgery. It s such a shame

Frustrating experience - months of trying to get through to book an appointment to see a GP. Abrasive receptionists when you finally do get through only to be advised you cannot see a GP, you can talk to a nurse practitioner but the receptionist wouldn't actually make an appointment until I told her what my reason for needing to see a medical professional was.

After detailing my medical history and current need, I asked if the nurse practitioner would then be able to expedite a GP appointment if they felt it was necessary after I spoke to them, the receptionist said, "I'm not medically trained so you'll need to ask them."

Essentially holding appointments ransom until you share personal info with a person whom by their own admission isn't qualified to make a judgement.

The doctors are very good but the receptionists are awful. I find them usually rude and unhelpful, there are a couple that are great but majority are not! Yesterday I called and I wanted to pass a message on to a doctor and the receptionist refused basically saying I could write a letter to him and being extremely unhelpful, I m going in for an operation on Monday and nervous enough about that now they have given me even more stress. I have downloaded NHS apps but thought as I only wanted to pass message not have an app I would call - learnt my lesson so in future the app is the best way to contact surgery and I ll have to get app. Shame reception is letting down the great work of the doctors.

Surgery opens at 8am but it is currently 8.30am and the phone line is, as it has been all morning, busy . This happens every time and you cant even join a queue to wait and know how long you will be waiting. As with every other time I will also have to book a sit and wait time. This involves sitting around for usually 30-45 minutes after you re given time for a 5 minute appointment. The receptionists (I do not think there are ever more than two), are generally very polite but clearly inundated with calls. You have to go through all of this because booking a set GP appointment leads to at least a month of waiting..The shining light is that all of the GP s I have seen thus far have been extremely friendly.

Admin staff don't quite know what their doing, different and wrong advice given. Suggest minimum training level, so everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

Awful in general going to move - a couple of doctors are fab if you ever get past the receptionists who are nothing but unhelpful and damn right rude most of the time - they send you away with no answers feeling dreadful not what you need from a doctors especially in these uncertain times

You need at least half a day to spend trying to get through on the phone.
Staff are friendly but very unhelpful.
After being in agony for 3 weeks and still not being able to see a doctor I've book a private scan for tomorrow.
I get that this is a tough time but why do they seem to be one of the only surgery's not doing to video calls?

This practice has always helped me when I needed it. We are lucky to have them. Five stars no doubt

Always difficult in getting an appointment. In non Covid times when I phoned once for an appointment the first available date was 4 weeks away!!! You can have some success ringing in the mornings at 8:00am for on-the-day appointments but this can easily take over 20mins of repeated dialling and call queuing.
The other major issue with this surgery is the very high turnover of doctors. Don't know what the issues are that cause so many GPs to leave but it's quite likely the GP you have previously seen will not be there if you need to return to have ongoing treatment.

Completely useless, you can't pre book appointments and some convoluted method of booking a time to go and wait to see if you are seen. If I had the option I would avoid completely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the last year, all of the staff I have encountered whether they be Receptionist, Doctor or Nurse have been amazing!

Yes, we get RSI from hitting redial when trying to make an appointment, but they do an incredible job with stretched and stressed resources!

The booking system shows the surgery's utter contempt for their patients. Forcing you to play their games of ringing at 8:00am in the hope that you might get lucky and see a doctor. WHY CANT THEY JUST RELEASE ALL APPOINTMENTS FOR THE NEXT 14 DAYS, there wouldn't be the 8:00am panic and people can make an appointment that suits them and plan their lives / work / childcare around it, rather than jump through hoops for the amusement of the surgery.

I have tried explaining this to them many times but they simply don't care ... a same day appointment is too short notice for people who work, especially commuters. And 7 days is too long to wait (let alone 14 or 21 days).

A vet doesn't make you ring at 8:00am just to be told you can only book an appointment in EXACTLY 7, 14 or 21 days time, yet this surgery thinks its ok to treat sick people like this. DISGUSTING, THOUGHTLESS people. Avoid this place at all costs.

And don't be fobbed off with the excuse that they are busy due to Covid, this problem has been going on for years.

I have found the service excellent and a great improvement on the previous surgery. In particular the "sit and wait" which is efficient and adjusted according to urgency.

Not sure the negative posts are talking about the same surgery. Went again today; there was a computer glitch but staff very pleasant and I was dealt with as quickly as possible.

Can't get hold of anyone and when you do they have absolutely no care of empathy

How is it possible for a working professional to get an appointment at this practice? A lottery each day on whether you can get an appointment and if you have a busy work schedule with limited time when you can see a doctor and don t manage to get an appointment on the day you need it you wait another week or 2 weeks! How rediculous.
Better start looking at alternative practices.

Ridicules appointment booking system! Seems like they don t know how to use calendar.
Follow up appointments are impossible to book. It looks like they are being difficult on purpose! Called 3 days in advance to reschedule appointment (due to my father s funeral) and was offered next available appointment in 5 weeks- for blood test! Went there for asthma check and booked it within a week!
Worst gp surgery ever!

Frustrating beyond belief. I try to get outside surgery by 7.50 in preparation for doors to open at 8. Today the doors opened 5 mins early!!!!! Hooray!!... but when I walked in, there was already a queue of people waiting to be seen by receptionist. So what I have been doing is phoning whilst I m stood in the queue to see if I get served first or my call gets answered first. Today my call was actually answered before the first person in the queue had been served! ((so that is a plus point today) unfortunately, before my call was answered or the lady at the desk had started serving people, she said I can t do anything until 8am but I will warn you all there are only 2 appointments available this morning! How does that even happen???? Every time I try to book in advance I am told I need to phone on the day, so how is it possible when phone lines have not opened, no one is being served as it s not 8 o clock, is there no appointments left???? THIS IS WHAT IS FRUSTRATING.

terrbile. Been trying to get my fiancee registered here for over 3 month's and we call today after we were told to wait a month for them to sort the paper work for her to register just for them to tell us they have lost it. my fiancee is sick and need medical attention but they just did not care. im shocked that a place could be so unorganised to loose important personal documentation no wonder they have a two star rating.

The pits, the worst run doctors I have ever experienced. Go anywhere else but here, literally anywhere. Letters go missing, no follow up when promised, urgent referrals ignored, the list is endless.

We have been patients here for 7 years.
The level of care from the Doctors and Nurses, appointment availability and courtesy of administration staff, has always been very good.
It s sometimes difficult to get through via the phone first thing in the morning due to the shear volume of calls waiting, but in one or two cases of possible emergency we were able to speak to a doctor on the phone the same day for advice.

Had a mole removed on my face. Fantastic result and wonderful being able to have it done by a Doctor at my local surgery

Got through at 08:05 and after short wait call was answered. Receptionist said IT was down at the moment but asked for my contact details and a doctor would call back.
And just an hour later that's exactly what happened! I spoke to a most charming lady who was very thorough, helpful and good humoured.
So I thought I should record my 100% satisfaction with a 5* post.

Doctors and nurses are great, never usually have a problem getting an appointment. But my god the receptionists on the phone and over the counter are honestly so rude! Customer service skills might need to be learnt here!

This is my medical centre only been there a couple of times they have a wait and see a doctor which is very useful a good practice

Never any appointments available typical NHS surgery, will just have to suffer

Have to change to differnt surgery never an appointment available tried to make several appointments over the last 10 years and have never been sucessful. The receptionist has a bad attitude problem and is most unhelpful. I wouldn't wish the treatment I have received on my worse enemy.

up to 30 days for a not urgent appointment to see the GP, however the staff and doctors are really good.

During the Covid-19 pandemic it was impossible to get a follow on appointment. The phone rang permanently busy saying a problem with the system. No messaging possibilities, the online booking system never had any appointments. Told to ring 111 who then said contact Doctor. Appalling, the only people there that seem to care are the nurses. Looks like only alternative is to go private.

Efficient practice with good doctors and nurses what more can you ask for.

The worse surgery I ve ever been to. Takes weeks to get an appointment and nearly a whole week to get your prescription signed. This is truly a mess of a doctors surgery and the sooner they sort the staff out and get things in gear the better.

Tried to get a telephone consultation with the doctor for a blood test, the receptionist self medicated me over the phone told me to see the pharmacist. Went to the pharmacist, they told me to immediately get a blood and urine test from the doctor. Now stuck with no apppointment and unable to see a doctor.

They managed to lose an assessment I had with a referred doctor at a different facility, I chased them for months and received a variety of excuse ranging from "they're right here and we are waiting for the doctor to review them" to "we don't have any record of this".

11 months and I finally get a follow up appointment, the doctor was short with me on the phone and honestly, completely incompetent. I waited for 50 mins outside the surgery because she put the appointment through as a phone call.

When she did see me, she told me that the referral to neuro by the other doctor didn't seem right, then proceeded to tell me that she thinks the issue I have is TS - a neurological complaint!

Proceeded to send me for bloods that were ordered 11 months ago. She told me they close at 4, lo and behold they closed at 3:30, and because she kept me waiting so long I missed it and wasted my petrol and more of my time.

Furthermore I was told to come back to the surgery before 6 with a sample, only to be turned away at 4:30 and told to come back after the weekend.

Useless place, there is never any appointments available. If you don't push hard you get nothing, I guess we are meant to suffer!!! Why don't you just completely go private and we know you're not available for us!!! Zero Star.

Extremely slow, at least 50 mins late and almost impossible to book an appointment. Avoid at all costs.

Some of the doctors are very good. Doesn't matter because its next to impossible to get an appointment even when their systems are working; but they've had a broken phone queuing system for weeks and now the chances are beyond minimal. I've wasted mornings for weeks trying to get through. They need to thoroughly overhaul their method for booking appointments and implement online consultations.

Been trying to get through for over an hour. Previous doctors have been rude and not had any time for me. Rushing to get me out the door, on to the next one.

Absolutely appalling. Don t waste your time registering here as you ll need to register at another doctors in no time, as you won t ever be able to get an appointment. Even when you follow their absolutely insane booking system which is near impossible for full time working people, you will still be told there are no appoimtments. I booked a day off work to cater to their obscene system and was told there were still no appointments, but I can back later for the sit and wait, but it s strictly only one problem So after trying for weeks to get an appointment for problems that have only gotten worse while I ve been made to wait, I have to decide which problem is causing me more misery and pain because I can t possibly be seen for both. I m going elsewhere!

This surgery gets a 2 star average for a reason ...avoid at all costs if you can .. poor appointment times usually in excess of 2 weeks unless you want to sit and wait . Reception staff not to helpful ..
If you have anything that might be life threatening then you will probably expire before they took any notice.
And Drs bedside manners rather lazy .. one of whom calls you my friend ..instead of taking the effort to actually remember your name ...

Most insane booking system ever, book for same day, 1 week or 2 week time. If you call and get though after 08:05am you won t get an appointment same day. Seems people with less urgent issues book all appointments in advance so on the day they only have about 2 available! Always ask you to assess how serious your condition is, as if patients are medically qualified! This is only going to get worse with thousands of new homes being built in the area.