Tessa Jowell GP Practice has really improved (update: or has it?)

[trinidad]

Hi all, I wanted to share my experiences with the medical centre on ED Grove. I have stopped contacting the centre by telephone, and have now started using "askmygp". The seervice is much better than waiting for ever on the phone ands you get a response back from either a chosen GP or any clinicians who work there and usually only a few hours. They will email or call depending what you request.

Contact the surgery for more info

Edited December 10, 2022 by trinidad

[ianr]

More information on the system here: https://askmygp.uk/how-it-works/.

[JohnL]

Yes - I noticed that site - Technically I'm outside their new boundaries however but as an existing patient I'm staying for now.

[James Barber]

So people with access to this app get an acceptable/better GP service.

Patients without such access get a rubbish service - likely older sicker people, poorer residents.

I don't think Tessa Jowell would be proud. How sad to commenorate someone with a GP practice that gives a poorer service to those more often in greater need.

[KalamityKel]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> So people with access to this app get an

> acceptable/better GP service.

>

> Patients without such access get a rubbish service

> - likely older sicker people, poorer residents.

>

> I don't think Tessa Jowell would be proud. How sad

> to commenorate someone with a GP practice that

> gives a poorer service to those more often in

> greater need.

Exactly!

To get better service you have to use a different service? This suggests the issue is how the reception/phonelines is/are run. I'm not suggesting the actual staff (although this can be questionable) but the structure in itself.

Hmm this isn't resolving the problems for those without access to askmygp *sighs

[sweetgirl]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> So people with access to this app get an

> acceptable/better GP service.

>

> Patients without such access get a rubbish service

> - likely older sicker people, poorer residents.

>

> I don't think Tessa Jowell would be proud. How sad

> to commenorate someone with a GP practice that

> gives a poorer service to those more often in

> greater need.

Totally agree James! My phone doesn?t always work for links that I?ve been sent by this surgery & it?s sad that if you don?t have the up to date equipment you?ll be waiting forever!

Another thing I wanted to share, I had a call from this surgery today which showed up as spam.

I never answer spam calls but for some reason I did today???? & yes it was the surgery!

I informed them it came up as a spam call & the person on the other side said they?ll look into it/report it.

I?m not convinced anything will be done about it but thought I?d post so others can be aware.

[ianr]

> I had a call from this surgery

> today which showed up as spam.

I suspect speaking to your telco/ISP is the best way of resolving this.

Incidentally, the TJ GP askmygp portal is now saying "Due to high demands, this service is closed until 8am Monday the 14th of February. Any patient with an urgent presenting complaint,...". So, as one might have anticipated, the prospect of having a GP accessible by phone within an hour or so, as seemed to be offered, isn't so easily realisable. In one way it's reassuring, as it suggests that there's no offloading to an askmygp proprietary site.

Note that this e-consult service seems to be different from the one used by Forest Hill Road, and from the EMIS system, on which I was previously registered when the practice was in Melbourne Grove. Registering online for this one is less intricate than for the EMIS system and was easily done online, though I've yet to see whether there are any more procedures to be gone through to enable access to personal data. I was able to access a self-help section, which seems, as far as I've seen so far, to act principally as just a portal to existing public sources.

[trinidad]

Todays experience was not a good one :( I used the online service and posted at 8:33am, at 1pm I telephoned the surgery as I notice the online service had now closed. Told someone is working through the enquires. Received a response at 2:30pm 6 hours since first contacting the surgery. The sick note requested had the wrong date. Telephoned the surgery as I could not respond (the online service had now closed to new enquires and the gp had closed my enquire preventing me from responding). advised due to capacity i have to contact the surgery again at 8am on the telephone. crazy i think (short lived for me :(

[Castleton]

Tessa Jowell is now reporting as 'unavailable' for online requests via ASKMYGP BUT the telephone recorded message says to use it to get an appointment!

[first mate]

No surprise really. MGMP (Concordia) was a disaster, somehow they managed to get this prime site, goodness knows how.

[JohnL]

It's unavailable out of hours on AskMyGP and at other times they are busy.

111 will get you an appointment if you are worried about something serious.

[JohnL]

Note today is Tuesday so they are not available after 11:35 - tomorrow it's 11:46 (why?)

(CLick "our service times" button - not sure if it varies depending on how busy they are

Monday

08:00 - 16:25

Tuesday

08:00 - 11:35

Wednesday

08:00 - 11:46

Thursday

08:00 - 15:00

Friday

08:00 - 12:36

[Penguin68]

To note (for new readers!) that the T J Centre houses a GP practice together with outsourced phlebotomy (Kings) and some other hospital services. It also acts as a hub for e.g. Covid jabs for a number of SE London GP Practices. I think SelDoc (out-of-hours services) is also still based on the site. I'm not sure what those hours quoted above are for, but I imagine the GP hub practice and maybe the GP practice. When people say 'Tessa Jowell' they are referring to a site with multiple medical services being run on it.

[JohnL]

I think those hours are only for the AskMy GP app - All I say is do it before 9:00

[smooch]

all I know is that they seem to be a darned sight better than DMC on crystal palace road!! :)

[ianr]

There's a list of all services available at the health centre at https://selondonccg.nhs.uk/in-your-area/southwark/tessa-jowell-health-centre/. The GP practice there (run by Omnes Healthcare Ltd, a descendant of Concordia) has a website at https://www.tessajowellgpsurgery.co.uk.

[trinidad]

I started this thread suggesting things are improving, but they still have a long way to go.

I saw a poster in the nurses room asking those who are carers to come forward. I telephoned the surgery, the member of staff had no understanding of the poster and said she would come back to me with an answer, i never heard from her again.

I emailed the surgery last month regarding joining their patient group. Did not get a response back :(

I don't think they can cope with the demand to be honest.

My grandads surgery is on the Walworth road. reception staff member knows his name and is really good. if you ask a question, she will get back to you the same day, I told her I wish she was at the TJ centre. The practice needs alot of improving to be honest!!

[LondonFermentation]

Is the AskMyGP service offered by Tessa Jowell not working? I've used it about two times to book an appointment but over the last couple of months when I try to log on it always says the system has no more appointments left for the day. Is the only way to get an appointment to call at 8am? Thanks!

[ianr]

Things move on, not necessarily for the better. AskMyGP is still there but there's yet another service outfit, "Evergreen Life" that seems to handle the appointments and records access. I have registered with them and linked my account to my practice TJGP.

I seem to have spent several hours floundering around between websites this weekend. I'll write later with a gleaning or two. In the meantime can anyone please answer this moderately urgent query:

Is it (still) possible to input some current case details somewhere with the assurance that they will be seen by a medic within 24 hours and progressed if need be to TJGP and the anticipated offer of an appointment? The situation may differ for weekends, so I don't know if tomorrow will be different. If not I'll resort now to NHS 111, which seems to be the only accessible resort at times anyway.

[first mate]

It is just appalling that this prime site on which millions has been spent is housing a seemingly dysfunctional GP Practice run by Omnes Health.

The community it is meant to serve is not getting value for money.

As a final point, the former local hospital community garden was demolished. The courtyard garden in the new TJ Centre, visible from most angles and clearly meant to be a centrepiece, is slowly deteriorating. The planting is dying and overgrown with weeds.

The facility was trumpeted as a state of the art replacement for the local hospital and yet we learn that parts of it are not working properly at all.

[ianr]

OK, I've decided to wait till tomorrow and then to see what's available to me in online appointment-making; in particular, given that the NHS Online questionaire concluded that I should consult a GP the same day, whether it's possible to get it similarly flagged or duly treated as more or less urgent. I'm finding the apparent disparity on the AskMyGP site, (currently advertised at https://www.tessajowellgpsurgery.co.uk/services/online-services/ ) between the examples of interchanges between patients and GPs and the appearance of This Is Not For Patients warnings on some pages, difficult to understand.

I'll be doing that on the Evergreen site, as suggested by the TJGP introductory page https://my.askmygp.uk/?c=G85132#/intro, where it's said "If you submit a request that you deem urgent or essential it will be triaged by one of our experienced clinicians...".

[Froglander]

It took 3 days for me to get a call back after ringing at 8 am 2 weeks ago. I was then given a face to face appointment with one of the group of GPS (not part of TJ Gp surgery) who are to the right of the reception area, for the following week. I presume that was because no TJ GPS were available.

[sweetgirl]

This centre is awful in my experience,

I have tried numerous times to get an appointment in the past month plus….. my son was taken to a&e due to breathing difficulties.

We were advised to get him to a gp asap to get him checked out.

I called at least twice to get an appointment, each time the young lady banging on about “ the way we book our appointments is you have to download an app……. etc”

I told them I didn’t have the facilities to download any app.

She told me everyone has access to the internet, to the point where she even directed me to the local library!

I asked her how I would book an appointment from the library & where I should download the app, if on the library computer…..

Anyway long story short, all these weeks later, my child has still not been seen!

I’m sure you can understand I’m well peeeeeeed off!

My son may well have asthma but yet downloading the app is th3 only thing they bang on about!

Please report your concerns to CQC, nhs England & other authorities as this is unacceptable rubbish they keep spewing out!

The surgery has not yet been rated yet & I’m sure if people report their concerns the rating will show exactly what type of service they provide!

[Froglander]

This centre is awful in my experience,

I have tried numerous times to get an appointment in the past month plus….. my son was taken to a&e due to breathing difficulties.

We were advised to get him to a gp asap to get him checked out.

I called at least twice to get an appointment, each time the young lady banging on about “ the way we book our appointments is you have to download an app……. etc”

I told them I didn’t have the facilities to download any app.

She told me everyone has access to the internet, to the point where she even directed me to the local library!

I asked her how I would book an appointment from the library & where I should download the app, if on the library computer…..

Anyway long story short, all these weeks later, my child has still not been seen!

I’m sure you can understand I’m well peeeeeeed off!

My son may well have asthma but yet downloading the app is th3 only thing they bang on about!

Please report your concerns to CQC, nhs England & other authorities as this is unacceptable rubbish they keep spewing out!

The surgery has not yet been rated yet & I’m sure if people report their concerns the rating will show exactly what type of service they provide!

 

Have you tried the Urgent Care centre at Guy’s Hospital? I used them once for an eye infection. Also, did you call 111?

[Happyme5]

I am so sad to hear your story Tessa Jowell is absolutely awful. I had to go to A+E after suffering for over 4 weeks. I could not get appointment I could not get any help from them even when the Pharmacy staff brought me upstairs to try and get me urgent medical help. The staff just refused to help me. I was so ill I had to go to A+E to help. It was a horrible experience. The only comfort we have is that we know that we are not alone and that it isn't personal. As we can read each others story on here. I do hope that the surgery staff look at this. Because I really don't know why we can not just get a f r e a k ING appointment when we are sick.