"A very disappointing practice"

I think that the Wellington Medical Centre is so overwhelmed with patients that it must now be considered a failing practice.

I remain uncertain as to whether the problems lie with lack of resources, or lack of training, but it is impossible to obtain an appointment, and the staff appear to hide behind the accurx (or should it be "accursed") software system that the practice uses.

Twice I have wanted to come to the surgery. Twice have I instead been routed through the accurx system. Twice the result has been that I have NOT been able to see a medical practitioner.

On the latest occasion, in March 2025, I was requested to fill in a response to a questionnaire via accurx. I did this on the 4th of March, and the fact that I had done so was logged by a member of staff on the 5th.

My response was that I would like to see a physiotherapist, and in their communication, the surgery noted that this would not be until the end of March.

As I write this on the 10th of April, I have heard nothing further.

It may well be that the surgery is so overwhelmed that they have pushed me to the back of some long queue, but it would have been nice to know that. I think it more likely that an under-trained member of staff has just marked the enquiry as closed, and no further action will be taken on their part.

On a prior occasion, when I needed to see a GP, they sent me a booking through the NHS app that I could not make. So I indicated that in the app. That was that. No further appointment was offered (and I just gave up). Again, they clearly marked the case as closed.

So the problem here is that if you try to book an appointment through the app ... well, simply put you can't, none are ever available.

And if you try to book in person or via phone, well, you can't. And if they do offer an appointment via the app, there is no apparent way to ask for it to be re-arranged, for as far as the practice is concerned, once an appointment is offered, that is enough, whether or not you can make it.

As I said at the beginning, I don't know whether the staff are simply poorly trained, or whether the system is just broken, or whether the practice is so overwhelmed that it just cannot cope.

Whichever it is, the point is that Wellington Medical Centre is failing its patients. Whether this makes it worse or better than any other NHS GP practice is unclear, but at this time, I cannot recommend it, and would advise anyone thinking of moving to the area to find an alternative practice.

What is undeniable, though, is that the practice is using the accurx system - through lack of training/time/attention to detail - to deny access to its patients.

And I would therefore urge the Practice Manager to, as a matter of priority, examine how many patient requests have been marked as closed when, in fact, they should still be considered open. And perhaps, as a mystery shopper, try to make an appointment. I think that they would be horrified at the outcome.