Sheldon Surgery
119 Sheldon Heath Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, West Midlands, B26 2DPContact details and opening times
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Reviews
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Review titled Great practice
Rated 4 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 26 December 2023
The surgery itself is good most the doctors are very careing and helpful, the receptionist are very helpfull and some of them will go up and beyond to help but there is one particular receptionist who really needs improvement but im sure the surgery are aware of that. i would really suggest that they really try to improve private letters, they charge a hefty price but will not write what the patient request, its a private letter so they should write what patient request, its a shame that they dont seem to understand that, and its understandble that the doctors are busy and dont have time to go in detail but doctors should really get the medical secetary or receptionist to write it for them and the dr could check it and sign, it would really help the drs and patients, beacuse sometimes patients need detail letters and thats why they request private letter, to avoid printing long records or save time to look up dates and histories, and if there is an issue such as doctors dont see it as it happens at home then doctors should really speak to patients and discuss it before just doing as they please or even write on letter patient, wife, husband or parent said. its really stressful for patients, i have come to unerstand that only one dr writes the letters in this surgery she should really get medical secetary to write up,it will.also avoid delays in writeing letter's, its like you request a private letter and it takes more then 3 months, its really not good telling patients no i wont write you a letter to what you want because im too busy i have too many letters or i just dont care just or if somoene needs your information but they can look it up, this service really needs to be improved and patients have to really save money for these letters to just not get much out of it. this is also a effort that needs to be made by doctors is to talk to the patients and see what they need in letters etc,everytime you try to book to speak to a dr for letter the receptionist wont allow it. the rest this surgery is very good and i will recommend to others, but i hope they make the above improvments.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Sheldon Surgery
Replied on 29 December 2023
Dear Patient, Many thanks for your comments about the staff being caring and helpful. We very much appreciate this as it helps with the staff morale to hear their efforts are being valued. Regarding your comments for private letters, I would like to bring to your notice that private letters are not part of NHS work meaning that GPs are not contractually obliged to complete such requests. However, they do always endeavour to assist their patients with the completion of forms such as for insurance purposes if they deem appropriate. This work is usually done outside the core working hours (8:00 – 18:30) and in their personal time therefore may lead to delays as mentioned in your comments. Moreover, due to being performed outside of contracted hours and being non-contractual work, it is liable to a discretionary fee. We understand that the fee (£20.00) for private letters may seem hefty, but this is in accordance to the guidelines provided by the BMA (British Medical Association) and would be in line with what majority of practice will charge nationally; in fact, some will charge significantly more than this. From your comments, we understand that you had specific requests regarding the contents of the letter. While we strive to accommodate individual preferences, our priority is to maintain the factual accuracy and integrity of the information provided in the letter. Any modifications to the letter must align with the details documented in your medical records to ensure transparency and compliance with factual information. Therefore, we cannot verbatim include information in a letter that a patient may request, since this might not be corroborated by other information available to us or might be an expression of an opinion outside the remit of a GP. It is important to clarify that private letters, being medical documents, often require the expertise of healthcare professionals such as a doctor or nurse who are directly involved in care of a patient. As such, our administrative staff are not in a position to write such letters of their own accord, but may only assist in the typographical formulation of it and subsequent presentation in letter form. I hope you find this information useful and will help to clarify the protocols and rationale involved behind letter requests made to GPs. Thanks once again for your feedback