SebsC

Ok so I did live chat with O2 support and have to say they were very helpful. Was told it was a problem they were aware of and were working on. As I am on a plan where I only have limited text allowances, I asked them if I'd get back my allowance for the wasted sent texts. I was told for every text sent where multiples were sent I'd get back those texts - hope that makes sense! They also got me to reset all my settings, take out SIM card and wipe it and gave me a code to call from my phone. Not sure what all that did however since then I have been sending texts without any problems.

Same here since Monday.spent an hour on phone to apple support as I presumed it was a fault with phone but they couldn't find any problem. Will now call 02 and no doubt be told it has nothing to do with them!

Went there on Tuesday with my nearly 3 year old and he really enjoyed it. Only lasts about 20-25mins. Tells the story of a teddy who goes looking for the Great Bear so visits all the planets looking for it. Perfect content and length for a child of this age. Definitely recommend it. Spent a good two hours before that in the playground, in the flower garden and wildlife spotting.

In case anyone could use some, I drove past the covered up sculpture this morning and next to it is a large container full of sawdust and wood chippings with a sign saying 'Please help yourself'. Could be handy for someone?

Was closed again when I went at 2.15pm. No signs, just closed.

I don't suppose anyone knows how long Honor Oak Park is going to be closed for do they? The school run is taking twice as long as the surrounding roads are just a nightmare with all the diverted traffic. There are no signs to say an expected completion date.

I've always found the staff to be polite and courteous so I'm sure if you let them know about the problem they would endeavour to fix it. Here's the phone number for them.....020 7564 3800.

If you PM me your address I'm happy to bring some milk round for you.

Still closed when I went to do the school run at 3.30pm today

Just for people's info, the above roads will be closed 11th-26th for bridge replacements. No traffic will be able to pass. Also, village way bridge will be closed to traffic 8th-23rd feb. further details of closure can be found here.... http://www.hernehillforum.org.uk/news/railway-bridges-herne-hill-be-replaced I know it's not East Dulwich, but thought drivers might want to know.

Hi James. Any news at all about how long the top of Upland Road is going to be closed. There has still been no news sent through to the residents affected by it and it has been closed now for a week. If you can give me the contact details for the person you spoke to, i am happy to contact them myself. Many thanks.

Hi James. Any news at all about how long the top of Upland Road is going to be closed. There has still been no news sent through to the residents affected by it and it has been closed now for a week. If you can give me the contact details for the person you spoke to, i am happy to contact them myself. Many thanks.

Thanks for the update James! If you do hear how long it is going to last, please could you possibly post it on here so residents can have an idea? Many thanks yet again for your help.

I know how you feel MrBen. After 10+ times of losing the tv and/or Internet this year we finally have switched back to sky. The excuses we were given ranged from our Internet was working too quickly(erm, not it wasn't), to the cat must be sleeping on the tv box (she'd have to be an acrobat to manage to get up and sleep side ways on the box), to large fast moving lorries going past the box outside must be shaking it (we live on a relatively small residential street). And like you said it was just a case of pot luck over who we spoke to at the call centre. In one call, having been handed over to someone else 3 times, I was told completely different things. Also, a booked engineer didn't turn up after waiting in for 6 hours and we were told it was because they realised it was a local area problem at fault - thanks for the phone call to tell me not to waste my entire day. They do offer you credit once you phone up, manage to get through, rant to at least 3 people and ask to speak to a manager, but it's little comfort when you've got no way of accessing the Internet to do your work - wow, you mean I don't have to pay for the service that you're not giving me - thanks! Anyway, rant over! For us anyway, we would definitely not recommend them!

Thanks for the speedy response James. Much appreciated.

Hi James, I live on Upland road and the top end has been shut off to traffic since yesterday. As residents it would have been helpful to have been informed of this. Do you know who I need to contact to find out how long it is going to last? Also, a sign at the roundabout at Goodrich road would be helpful to let cars know before they get all the way up to the top. Thank you in advance for your help.

Thanks for all the suggestions. As it is, we didn't end up going today but are doing it tomorrow instead so we have lots of suggestions to choose from. Thanks all!

Thanks Jennyh and EmilyPie! Was there parking at the bowling in Lewisham EmilyPie? I don't really know lewisham too well but it's close by so if we can park that would be a good one to go to.

Hi there, We are going to attempt to take our nearly 3 year old ten pin bowling! Is this a bit too ambitious or can they still have fun having a go? Anyway, where do people tend to go in the area? When I was younger I tended to go to Streatham but not sure what it is like these days. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cora Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Today there is is sign saying patient > participation meeting Weds 11th 6pm, all > welcome.....(worth checking date as from memory > which is not great!).......sounds like a good > chance to be heard and to hear their plans for > improvements.....fingers crossed. Saw that there today too - that's definitely the date it said and I will definitely be attending! Good chance to have our voices heard. I would encourage as many people as possible to attend as the more voices that re heard the more the chance they might listen!

So once again I found myself queuing at 7.15 this morning (second in the queue). When the doors opened at 8am there were 34 people in the queue! There were no signs up to explain and apologise for the current situation or to explain the new triage system they are apparently bringing out but there was a piece of paper taped to the door saying they are looking to recruit reception staff!

I received a phone call from one of the co-owners of DMC following my complaint to NHS England - which I urge all people to do as it genuinely has led to wheels being put into motion. He essentially said that all the current problems are due to the Practice Manager who left at the end of August. They apparently left the surgery in such a state and has caused lots of problems that they are still dealing with. I'm not sure i totally believe this and I don't think this warrants the shambolic state that the surgery is now in 3 months later. He said he owns many other surgeries that are all doing really well to which I answered, with all due respect, none of his other surgeries were of my concern, only DMC. He said things were being put into place to try to improve things such as hiring of new, fully trained staff for reception and phones and a new triage system would be put into place as of January to try to better allocate the emergency appointments to those who are genuinely in need of seeing a doctor, which should, he said, lead to a reduction in the number of people having to queue at the doors for an appointment. I stressed to him the importance of clear, open and honest communication with all patients at DMC as I feel people would be a lot more understanding if we were kept informed of the things being done to improve the situation. He did say he would be putting up a message on the forum (not sure if he meant this forum or some other ) to tell patients of the changes and essentially to apologise for the recent shambolic situation, but as yet I have yet to see any message either here or on their website. I sincerely hope that I am proved wrong as the doctors in the surgery have all been great but the system to get to see a doctor is disgraceful and without a huge improvement in the way they communicate openly with their patients, I can't see how things are going to get better.

Since making my complaints to NHS England on the above phone number, I have received two phone calls from them. They had spoken to the new Pratice Manager (after waiting over half an hour trying to get through) who is very aware of the current problems with the phones and the appalling waits people are experiencing. NHS England have upgraded it to a Crisis situation due to the lack of staffing at DMC. Apparently a total of 6 members of staff have left meaning they have 1 person left for reception, phones etc. I should be hearing back again today with regards to what is going to be done to improve the situation whilst they are finding full time staff again.

Cora Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Can you confirm which one of these numbers you > phoned sebsc... I phoned the NHS England on 0300 311 22 33. Good to hear other people are thinking of complaining too - it's a situation that really can't go on for any longer.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > SebsC Wrote: > So where was the person who was > > meant to be there from 8? At first the > computers > > weren't working so we all stood waiting (all 23 > of > > us!). I asked, "So, whilst we are all stood > here > > waiting having queued for over an hour, all the > > early appointments are being given out over the > > phone?". She told me, "No, don't worry, there's > no > > one here to answer the phones so you'll get the > > first choice of appointments!". > > xxxxxxx > > This is all absolutely appalling. > > I have always defended DMC in the past, but > SebsC's whole post is just unbelievable. Are the > GPs there aware of this chaos? > > I recently had to wait nearly three weeks for an > appointment, and I did say to the person who > answered the phone "lucky it's not urgent" - seems > it was more lucky than I realised. :( > > I don't want to move from there because I've > always found the GPs very good, but if I've got to > queue an hour in the cold when I'm more urgently > ill, I shall be thinking again. Sue I did speak to the doctor that I saw and filled her in briefly on what had happened. She did say that she was aware of the situation as patients were always complaining to the doctors but unfortunately there was nothing they could do as their hands were tied. It was down to the owners I was told.