Lea Wharf Medical
17 Bircherley Green, Hertford, SG14 1BNContact details and opening times
Patient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled Embarrassing
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 04 October 2023
This surgery should be embarrassed of themselves. You can’t even get an appointment because none of their contact measures actually function. Every time I have gone on econsult it says there are no appointments; is this an error on your system or actually the case? If you submit a message through the NHS website it doesn’t work and just says ‘forbidden’. If you email them via the email address on the NHS it says the email address isn’t monitored so what is the point in even having it stated as a contact method? If you call you can’t get through. This is an absolute joke and the surgery should be ashamed of themselves for not having appropriate contact measures in place. If you even get an appointment, expect to be seen late even if you’re the first appointment of the day. How can you be running late on your first appointment of the day?!? This surgery needs a serious overhaul!
Visited October 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 22 December 2023
Good Morning, Thank you for your feedback. It would be great if you could get in touch with us direct by giving us a call and talking to a team leader. we would love to talk you through how to get in contact . You can use the call back service to avoid waiting on the phone and retain your place in the queue. From the details in your message it seems like you may be accessing a different site to our website as the e consult does not give automated responses about appointment availability. Any response you have would either be a personalised text email or phone call depending on your preference. Please do get in touch so we can investigate this further with you. I know that we can be busy and I understand this can cause frustration but the more we understand about your experience the more we can use this to influence future service development. You also mention that we have run late in a clinic, this can be a reality as the services we deliver can call for us to be responsive to the dynamic needs of patients and we too sometimes have unplanned staff absence. I am very sorry if this has impacted on an appointment for you , we usually apologise for this in the moment and offer an explanation. Please do not hesitate to get in touch and speak to a team leader should you wish to have your concerns investigated and a personal response.
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Review titled Impossible to contact
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 22 September 2023
After the Secretary left a voice mail asking for me to contact her back earlier today, I tried for nearly 2hrs to get through to the surgery. The Secretary had asked that I call back on their number and choose the Secretary option. I assume she meant option 3 as there isn't actually a Secretary option on the recording. The first try my call was cut off after 10mins of waiting, the second try I waited for over 35mins before a recording played saying that they could not put me through and asking me to phone back or try a bypass number. I have no idea what the bypass number is. The third try I phoned the main number again and then chose option 1 in the hope that I could actually get through. I waited for over an hour and when I finally got through the receptionist seemed aloof when I mentioned that it had taken so long to get through. Then when I asked to speak to the Secretary I was put on hold again for a few more minutes to then be told the secretary had left for the day. It was more frustrating to find out that the call was to confirm an email address for a referral that we spoke to someone about a week ago. I am not sure why this was not checked at that point, but also assume that this means the referral has not been put through yet, a week after getting in contact with the surgery and on that occasion we also had to wait for over an hour to get through. All of this unfortunately could not be done on the e consult system that is constantly referred to on the phone recordings. It would be great if this could be looked into, to improve the service. And some greater understanding from the call staff would be appreciated, after waiting nearly 2hrs I was not impressed with the response unfortunately.
Visited September 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 22 December 2023
Thanks you very much for sharing your experience. It does sound very frustrating. The call back service can help if you are busy to avoid hanging on the phone. The secretary team are just trailing a new phone system as we recognise there have been some difficulties with contacting this team. E-consults timings have been changed to respond to the safety challenges flagged by patient after the volume re received created lengthy waits for response. they are now open form 7 am until 1 pm daily and we are able to manage these within a 48 hour response time. I hope this reassure you that we continue to look for improvements but if you would like a more in depth examination of your concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch and speak to a team leader who can then investigate and respond personally to you. Thank you again for your feedback
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Review titled Great Doctor
Rated 3 stars out of 5
by Susan Rider - Posted on 22 August 2023
Everything was fully explained and the Doctor listened to me and referred to my medical notes, she was very helpful. I am very pleased with the result of the appointment.
Visited August 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 23 August 2023
Thank- you very much for taking time to let us know about your experience. I am pleased that you had a positive consultation. i will ensure your feedback is shared to the team who you had contact with as it will be very well received. Thanks again for sharing.
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Review titled Very efficient doctor
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Gill Proctor - Posted on 23 August 2023
Felt that seeing a doctor one to one helped with the symptoms and I felt happy with the outcome. I didn’t feel I was being rushed through and felt that she dealt with all the issues and anxieties that I had.
Visited August 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 06 September 2023
Thank you very much for your review Ms Proctor. I am glad the Dr you saw was able to give you the time and attention you needed and a consultation that matched your preference to be seen face to face. We recognise that different consultation styles have value to different patients hence our team ask question to try and match your needs and preferences with our team and availability. It seems like we got this right for you on this occasion. Again many thanks for sharing your kind words with the team.
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Review titled Poor service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 09 August 2023
Did econsult as needed to see Doctor rather than keep having a phone consult & being fobbed off & not resolving the medical issue. Doctor called in the morning & told me to attend surgery at a stated time that day. No text came through, so attended surgery at time stated only for receptionist to say I didn’t have appointment & didn’t believe me when I said I did. After sitting and waiting for ages I was eventually sent to another practice who were very helpful & informative unlike my surgery. Can never get through on phone and if attend in person have to queue for ages too.
Visited August 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 14 August 2023
Good Morning, I am very sorry to read of the miscommunication. Although it is difficult to investigate in full without your details it seems like there has been a miscommunication and you may have attended the wrong site for your appointment. I am pleased to learn the Dr contacted you the same day of your request and organised a face to face appointment for you. From your description it sounds like you were redirected to the correct site for the appointment and seen on the same day. While relieved that you have still got same day care i understand this must have been frustrating. if you get in contact with one of our team leaders to identify your self we can do a full audit of calls to understand where any miscommunication lies and help improve services for the future. please do let us know your specific details by contacting the team direct and we will be ready to review this with you. Many thanks for your feedback and looking forward to hearing from you.
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Review titled Very dirty
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Gemma Hussey - Posted on 24 August 2023
The waiting room is filthy - enough to make anyone feel unwell in itself! The entire surgery needs a lick of paint- let alone more staff to cover phone lines. It took me 45mins this morning to get an appointment when I started as number 7 in the Que! Not great service or practice!
Visited August 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 06 September 2023
Good Afternoon Gemma, Thanks for your review. I appreciate that the waiting rooms can seem a little tired but would like to reassure you they are cleaned every night. I am pleased to let you know that we will be moving to our new build site at Lea Wharf in December. Over the last few years while NHS funding has been tight we have chosen to invest all available resource in clinical time and expertise rather than in decorating the building as we knew a move date was pending. It is always a tricky decision but we hope the extra staff and appointments have been valued and that the move to the new site will facilitate a fresh and appropriate environment. I am pleased to learn you were seen on the same day you made contact. Thank for holding on the phone. if this is inconvenient then why not try the ring back service next time. This would save you from sitting on hold and allow you to continue with your day.
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Review titled Impossible to make contact
Rated 2 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 29 July 2023
I need to get an extra packet of my prescription. You Have to phone between 8 to 12. or between 2 and 5. They do Not answer the phone outside these times. You cannot Email. You cannot use the econsult system outside of practice opening times. eg Monday to Friday 9 to 5. You also cannot use the econsult system to request prescription alterations. If I have the option to phone them during the day, whilst at Work, if your lucky they will answer in an hour or so. System designed for people Not working. No ability to contact outside of working hours. Service? This practice has shown me over several years that the management do not invest in service. They are fairly good at saying the right things, but terrible at following up. (I must note that the staff, if you ever manage to get to one are great, but the practise management and resourcing are awful).
Visited July 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 31 July 2023
Good afternoon, I am very sorry that you have experienced difficulty in contacting us. We tend to take an average of 800 phone calls a week and about 700 e-consults. The phone lines are open from 8 am until 12.30 and then from 2 pm - 6.30 pm. E consults can be submitted between 8 am and 4.30pm daily and our doors are opne to speak to a care navigator from 8 am until 6pm each week day. we do not process e consults outside the opening hours as we do not want urgent matters to be delayed if they were to be submitted when we are not available to view them. during this period of time 111 services are available. we are always keen to gather the view of our patients and i am sorry that you have not yet found a convenient way to make contact. if you struggle to hold to talk to one of the team please try the ring back service as this allows you the flexibility to be called back automatically when you reach the front of the phone queue thus no need to sit on hold. Please do get in touch so we can understand more about how we can help.
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Review titled Damaging to health
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 13 July 2023
I have attempted to contact a doctor a number of times and have always been pushed to online consult. Never have a doctor called me and I have been palmed off on clinicians who are not doctors and not competent in diagnosing or treating my health condition. When I ask to speak with a doctor I get told I’m wasting their time. and even if I want to leave the practice I no longer can just swap to another practice because I’m not satisfied with service.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 24 July 2023
Good afternoon, I am worried to learn you have not had a response to your e -consult. please could you get in touch with the team direct on 01992550541 so that we can fully investigate this experience and check the safety of the service. Please call and speak to the complaint officer of one of our Patients Service Managers. They would like to gather data about any missing e consultations so we can understand if there is any risk of patient communication being missed as we would wish to rectify this and we need to collect information to fully audit this. We would be very keen to here from you so this important work can be done. We received approximately 100 e-consultation's each day and from our data the majority of these are dealt with within 48 hours as per the quoted expectation. It is helpful for us to investigate an specifics to ensure the system is working safely as intended. I am also concerned that you may still have unaddressed health needs, if you contact the team we can complete an e-lite for you or direct you to a valuable service as appropriate. Please do call and speak to a Patient Services Manager 01992550541. Thank you for your feedback and we look forward to hearing from you direct.
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Review titled Five star service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 July 2023
Fully expected to wait over a month for my issues to be resolved… to my surprise I was fortunate to have all issues resolved in one day … So Greatfull
Visited July 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 14 August 2023
I am very pleased we were able to exceed your expectations when you made contact. Thank you very much for sharing the experience. The team are always very pleased when things work well to provide patients with a great experience.
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Review titled Excellent service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Brigitte Houghton - Posted on 25 July 2023
In the past months I have noticed a marked improvement in the service Wallace House Surgery have been giving. Would highly recommend them.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Lea Wharf Medical
Replied on 31 July 2023
Thank you very much Brigitte. the team will be thrilled with your feedback. We very much appreciate the time you take to let us know that things have gone well for you.