"Staff lovely, entire way the surgery is run is…"

The staff at vine medical group are largely very nice and friendly, even when they’ve had a busy day they’re still smiling and supportive, so that’s a very big positive.

However.

The practice itself is run in such a ridiculous way that it makes it painful to engage with them. For starters, trying to get an appointment is very difficult - no matter what time you call, it will be the wrong time. Even if you ‘do’ happen to call within the correct window (which for general appointments is only around an hour, and then you can’t get through because you’re stuck on hold) and manage to speak to a human being you’ll either be told you can’t see anyone for many weeks, or you have to download, join, create a password and use an app to make an appointment. I am fed up with having to download an app for every single store, membership, bill, supplier these days, my phone doesn’t have the memory, so as I was there for a different reason - I thought I’ll book my appointment whilst I’m here.

Oh no. Don’t be silly.

You cannot book at appointment at the front desk.

For some reason unbeknownst to anyone with any logic - you can’t book an appointment in person.

No. You get told to download an app and do it online. Why exactly? Has chronic leprosy destroyed all the desk staffs fingers and rendered them useless? What on earth have we become? How can you expect pensioners riddled with arthritis to use tiny little keys to use an app - beyond ridiculous.

Even if you ‘do’ use the app then you have a minefield of things to enter and the calendars have zero slots available - often only allowing two weeks ahead, which of course are all booked up.

Often times you book an appointment for one location and then when you arrive they tell you it’s at the other one several miles away - which is fine if you have a car, but I saw them do it to a woman in her 80s on a cane who had no transport, and they didn’t accommodate her to make room for her to be seen there.

Frankly it’s pathetic and very poor customer service.

Not only that but I know one woman who was told the spot on her face was just a growth for six years - it turned out to be skin cancer, and a doctor at this surgery told my friend she had IBS for three years, despite her vomiting and fainting which are clearly ‘not’ IBS, only to see a locum by chance one day who sent her for a scan and it turned out to be stage 4 ovarian cancer. She died - because of this practice. If the correct attention had been paid in the beginning she wouldn’t have got to stage four by the time it was diagnosed - but no, dismissed to get her out as fast as possible. Sorry but Vine Medical Group are terrible, there’s no care for customer care, all about hitting numbers and trying not to deal with you as much as possible. They should be ashamed of themselves.