Forest Hill Road Group Practice

[Jacqui5254]

'Whoeveritis', I think it's appalling that you should call individuals out by name on a public forum and then proceed to slag them off.

For what it's worth, Sue has been an absolutely wonderful and helpful receptionist in all the 8 years I have been a patient at FHR.

That aside, no-one deserves to have to read your diatribe.

Shame on you.

Whoeveritis Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> These receptionists leave a lot to be desired,

> patronising sue who couldn?t move any slower and

> rude and obnoxious Irene, who shouts over you , no

> social skills whatsoever, and another one who

> always looks permanently harassed. They can?t cope

> under pressure ,it?s all very unprofessional and

> they obviously hate their jobs. I?m just amazed

> they are still employed there, they must be very

> hard to get rid of is all I can think.

[intexasatthe moment]

I've not forgotten being told by a receptionist when I queried a mistake that my name ( which honestly is not a common one ) was identical ( fore and surname ) to another patient who also had exactly same birthdate .

The crazy thing is ,I believed her ! Shows how unwell I was feeling at the time .

[Penguin68]

I've been a patient there for 32 years and counting. They have gone through good (and very bad) organisational patches - although my young children, when they were young, could always get seen, even when their parents couldn't, except for weeks of waiting. In general the actual medical care has been very good (save for some problem locums, balanced by some excellent ones) - although their record keeping (and reliance on IT) has let them down recently. You are, however, generally not encouraged to feel welcome there by the non medical staff (again with some exceptions) and this has been particularly true during Covid-19, when you feel a chorus of plague rats would get a better welcome. They have sadly lost a number of excellent partners, and with one at least useful local surgery for locally operable skin conditions.

Considering their volume of work it is hardly surprising that there have been organisational mistakes (including but not limited to prescription requests missing items in error) but these are normally quickly rectified.

With the excellent local blood suckers (in East Dulwich Hospital and now the Tessa Jowell) they have not needed their own phlebotomist - and bloods taken there get very quickly to Kings for analysis.

They are loathe to join up their activities; I have a medicines review (with the pharmacist) which is always enforced just before a set of routine blood tests, meaning I then need a second review (with a GP) in light of the bloods results. This wastes their time and mine.

But overall, they are never so bad that a move seems that good an idea. And sometimes they are very good.

[George Orwell]

The observation about not feeling welcome struck a chord with me. In the old (pre-Covid) days when you could walk into the surgery you could not help but notice all the negative notices. There are / were maybe half a dozen or more notices on the lines of . . . We don?t do this, we don?t do that, you must give 48 hours notice for this, stand here, don?t do that, we won?t tolerate this and so on. I?d often queue at the desk when the desk wasn?t manned (womanned?) but could see staff hanging around and chatting in the background. I can tell you it was not at all calming, welcoming or good for your blood pressure.

They dealt with the chatting idle backroom staff issue by hiding them behind a half height door and I dealt with the blood pressure issue by buying my own machine.

[intexasatthe moment]

Ah ,the notices ! I quite agree George. Puts me in mind of how the cafe in Dulwich Park was .

I sort of agree ( if I've understood correctly) with Penguin's point - the good and bad instances can balance out .Except that makes it hit and miss and what's to say it doesn't balance out ?

I'm currently ignoring an invitation to sign up for a pre diabetes course offered from FHP because I've had bad experiences in the past .These chiefly consisted only of wasted time and raised hopes and related to whizzo scheme of let's give you a nominated GP who will oversee your care and a medication review ,both of which were a complete waste of time ,based on an algorithmic tick box exercise and I assume conducted only because they brought extra cash to the practice .

[Penguin68]

I sort of agree ( if I've understood correctly) with Penguin's point - the good and bad instances can balance out .Except that makes it hit and miss and what's to say it doesn't balance out ?

It balances out for me, at the moment. When it doesn't...?

I was also invited to the pre-diabetic sessions (I am very pre pre-diabetic, by the way, only one point into the zone) - they will urge you not to eat cakes, biscuits and puddings (I don't), not to have sugar with your tea and coffee (I don't), to eat more vegetables (I do), not to drink sweetened fizzy drinks or fruit juice (I don't), to cut back on alcohol drinking (a unit every 3 weeks or so) - to take more exercise (good for cardio vascular, of little use for weight control - eating less is what works there). It's about them going through the motions - but they get paid for it and I don't!

The two biggest predictors, for me, of getting diabetes (in the model) are my age and the fact that my late father was a Type 2 diabetic. If they can come up with ways I can remedy either of those I would drop in!

[jazzer]

As bad as the practice has been, their appear to be some occasional green shoots of improvement. I can only hope these are the start of something better, which is over due, and its patients deserve to receive.

[bill.c]

I have been registered with this surgery for over 35 years together with my family. I have not been happy with the service for some time, particularly with regards to the administration and reception services.

In the past have lost records, delayed in referring to specialists (e.g. oncology departments), handed over prescriptions meant for other patients, entered incorrect details on my patient database/records stating I had medical conditions which I had not (i.e. Epilepsy), not recorded medical conditions that I do have, given false names when requested etc etc. In addition I have witnessed rudeness and impatience first hand to other patients on a number of occasions specifically with the elderly and those who do not have English as their first language. I commented at the time but I know I should have raised formal complaints.

My recent experience was I undertook an E-consult and in fairness was given an appointment to see a doctor at the Tessa Jowell Centre within a few days. The doctor was very professional and gave a diagnosis, but said I needed to have a chat to a doctor at the practice to refer me to a specialist at the hospital.

I tried to do this with reception, but after finally agreeing to a further telephone consultation with a doctor I received a call from a senior nurse to say my appointment had been cancelled by "management" and it had been transferred to her. I pointed out that the doctor at the TJC was the one who said I needed a 1-2-1 with a GP

The nurse was very helpful and undertook to make the necessary referrals but would have to request the telephone consultation be re-instated as there were issues she could not deal with which needed a GP discussion.

The problems we experience have been made worse by the Corona virus but not because of it. I have family members who are doctors and consider the service from the practice over the years to be poor. Sadly when I read the reviews and reports of other local surgeries they are at least as bad as the Forest Hill Group and therefore a change is unlikely to help - Unless anyone can suggest otherwise?

[jazzer]

I am saddened to hear of your experience at the practice, I'd hoped things had improved a tad, clearly similar issues remain which they clearly are unable to resolve. That being the case I cannot see how the standard of care can be considered to be good by the regulator CQC. Perhaps its worth making them aware of the issues you describe as well as Southwark CCG. The practice is supposed to put patients care first, sounds as though its anything but.

As an aside why have they still not published the most recent patient group minutes. The last set a re a single A4 page of quite frankly garbage.

[Growlybear]

My husband had a very different experience this morning. He rang for an on the day telephone consultation at 8 a.m.. The doctor rang him at 9 a.m. and suggested a possible diagnosis. He was given an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning at the Tessa Jowell Centre, and was given a referral form to get an x ray immediately afterwards. I'm not sure how that could be improved, particularly in the middle of a pandemic.

[Penguin68]

But it is interesting to note that Forest Hill Road no longer seems to operate as a working surgery - both recent posts say they were referred to Tessa Jowell - presumably SELDOC or its successor. I only physically entered the surgery once these last 12 months, to get a flu jab from a nurse when I was rushed through - otherwise it's queuing in the rain to wait for a claw to hand out a form or receive back a sample. Do they still actually have doctors there at all, or is at all nurses and other (non medical) staff referring out to practices which still seem to be working?

There are precious few active cases of Covid-19 now in Southwark (according to the figures) - what are they still frightened of that they treat us like medieval lepers? The tiny crack they open the surgery door to, when forced, is a leper's squint if ever I saw one? But in their case it is the rest of the world which is the leprosarium.

[first mate]

I think there is possibly a model that is being pursued to substitute GPs with practitioner nurses. I believe this idea was initiated/ mooted many years ago by Concordia which now runs the Tessa Jowell medical centre. The NHS is being run down, there is a shortage of GPs. It seems a fair few changes have been slipped through in the name of Covid.

[Nigello]

I think that is perfectly correct for trained nurses to be doing stuff that need trained nurses. Doctors are needed soemtimes, but not always. I have seen pharmacists at my surgery and have been pleased with their consultation. If you are concerned about there being a shortage of doctors, write to your MP and ask them to campaign for newly qualified docs to have to stay for ten years before going abroad, for example. There will always be a GP you can see, it's just that you may not need to see one and be perfectly well cared for by someone who despite their less heralded status is up to the job.

[first mate]

Shortage of GPs is a fact, I think politicians of all persuasions are well aware of this. I disagree that you can generally see a GP if you need to, perhaps you have been lucky enough not to require one out of hours for a complex condition but not everyone is so fortunate. The 111 service is a joke and also increasingly dependent on nurse practitioners and less clinically qualified staff. I also disagree with your insinuation that I may have been involved in asking for a GP when a nurse practitioner or similar would have been adequate. How can you possibly be so sure? My experience and that of others I know has clearly been very different from yours. For single factor, simple conditions you may have a point for anything else you are way off base.

[Nigello]

Such solipsism!

When I say you, I mean "one", so please don't be so secure in the belief that I was necessarily talking about you, first mate. To think I was "insinuating" something about a complete stranger on an anonymised website suggests a bit of a victim mentality. Why not talk to a doctor about this. (Or a nurse?)

Also, how do you know I don't have a non-simple condition? You don't, so I will make a point of using "one" in future to avoid baseless accusations of "insinuation" and lack of care and concern from people I don't know.

I hope you (not one) get the care you want.

[first mate]

Thanks Nigello. One more point, it is about need not want, there is a real distinction which, if you were or have ever been in similar position, you may better understand. No victim mentality here; a bit of crass and unnecessary point scoring on your part. Why not go away and have a careful think as to whether you really know as much about this area as you feel you do.

[alice]

i have had monumentally awful dangerous service from forest hill. i have had also excellent care.

[malumbu]

The e consult service worked very well. Not something I would have called for but worked quickly and better than joining the queue on the phone. Phone consultations, as with much of the NHS, have been a game changer.

[taper]

FHGP is pretty poor. It strikes me they have way more people on their books than they offer a decent service to. The nurses are excellent in my experience though. But their admin is a disaster zone. Same with most GPs. This bit of the NHS needs dismantling top to bottom and reforming.

[jazzer]

Totally agree Taper

Was referred to Kings in 11/20 by a GP at FHRGP. The GP had made a referral purely based on the numbers rather having considered the patient history. After six months of worry, it turns out the GP's referral was unnecessary. Had they done a bit of checking themselves or even bothered phoning the unit in Kings to discuss the figures and case history the referral would have been required. The GP has wasted both my and the hospitals time.

Thanks FHRGP for the six moths of worry you caused through a mis diagnosis, it looks like he is no longer a GP at FHRGP. Phew!

[malumbu]

GP stands for General Practitioner. ie 'general' rather than 'expert'. Give them a break will you or just go private, which will mean better service for the rest of us.

As a general point does anyone of this forum have a good thing to say about anything? It feels that way at the moment.

[Siduhe]

Did anyone else registered at Forest Hill Road GP get a slightly ranty and misspelled message from the practice today about vaccine passports? I?m signed up to receive messages from the practice via the MYGP app, and got one today with a weird bit.ly link that ended:

?DO NOT CONTACT YOU GP FOR A VACCINE PASSPORT- we not able to provide it?

I kind of want to contact them to ask if they?ve been hacked or whether they think that?s an appropriate way to communicate with patients, no matter how many questions they are getting. However, curious to know if it?s just me that got the message.

[another annie]

Yes, I got that text message at around midday today, thought it looked a bit odd, too, so didn't open up the whole message. Coincidentally I'd booked my second covid jab at Tessa Jowell earlier this morning (hoorah!)after a whole weekend trying, so I wondered if the text was connected with that and just made to look official. But then I'm a very suspicious person/worrier...

[intexasatthe moment]

Yup ,we all got the same here .

[Applespider]

Me four. I'm waiting for some results to come through so thought it was that when it popped up saying there was a message.