Care Opinion

I have been unwell and unable see a doctor

Posted By DJ Soca Sam

"I have been unwell and unable see a doctor"

About: The Lawson Practice

(as the patient),

Since the end of October, 2019 I have been unwell and unable to see any doctors. I can never get an appointment and it is always booked up. I am always told that I have to go online to obtain an appointment but this never happens.

I have been sick for five months now and unable to see a doctor because of the ridiculous booking system. This needs to be reviewed as of immediate urgency. A lot of us patients are suffering especially as all the ones as the children get seen as and when needed.

Please someone help us as this system needs immediate review and change and we need to be able to see be seen as we are sick especially in cases of emergency. I’ve had to go to Homerton A&E to get seen which is ridiculous really.

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Responses

Response from Deborah Colvin, GP, The Lawson Practice, The Lawson Practice 4 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Deborah Colvin
GP, The Lawson Practice,
The Lawson Practice

Submitted on 04/03/2020 at 17:48
Published on Care Opinion on 05/03/2020 at 09:33

Dear DJ Soca Sam,

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a problem getting seen. We thought that we had enough ways of booking a telephone appointment to ensure that nobody is missing out. As you know, we ask you to book a telephone call and then the doctor will ring you and find out how to help and see you the same day if that is what is needed. We also have a duty doctor system so that if you are unwell and have been unable to get a telephone appointment that day you can be put on the duty doctor list for a call back and then be seen if needed. You can also book a telephone appointment online. You can also log on to our on-line triage system and if you still need to contact a doctor after using that system, you can send an email to us and we will contact you. We should have a system running that makes sure that nobody is struggling in the way you describe so I am very sorry and sad to hear this has happened to you.

If you felt able to come in and talk to Andre, our reception manager about this, we can trace the calls you have made to the practice over the last few months and try and work out what has happened and why and then we can address the gap that you seem to have fallen through. We are really serious about doing this as we want all our patients to feel that if they need a doctor, they can contact one. Most of our patients are being seen easily and quickly and the system is so much better than it used to be when people were waiting 3-4 weeks to see a doctor.

Please accept our apologies and please do come in to discuss with Andre. If we find that there has been a problem we can change things and we can feed back on this site so that patients know what happened and that we have addressed it and also so that we can update you of any changes.

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Update posted by DJ Soca Sam (the patient)

💜🤗Thank You for your kind response.. However💁🏽‍♀️I wish that I could speak to the management, Andre. My number or this email address is on The Lawson Practice files...🙄

So a face to face appointment with Management would be 👍 great, only if it is really gonna make a difference to the recent SYSTEM and people without internet access, like myself (who can not afford to have internet installation at home!) do NOT get missed out when we really need it! 🤗.

Thank You for listening and for your timely response 💆 I'm hoping the future will bring much change.

DJ Soca Sam

Response from Deborah Colvin, GP, The Lawson Practice, The Lawson Practice 4 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Deborah Colvin
GP, The Lawson Practice,
The Lawson Practice

Submitted on 09/03/2020 at 17:25
Published on Care Opinion on 10/03/2020 at 10:52

I'm so pleased you are willling to discuss further with us. We can't see your email address and can't see your phone number on this site. This is to protect your anonymity. If you could possibly ring reception and ask to speak to Andre and explain who you are then we can fix up an appointment for you to chat to him. We truly want the system to work for everyone so really appreciate your willingness to work with us. Thanks again.

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Response from Deborah Colvin, GP, The Lawson Practice, The Lawson Practice 4 years ago
Deborah Colvin
GP, The Lawson Practice,
The Lawson Practice

Submitted on 07/04/2020 at 16:25
Published on Care Opinion at 16:25

Hello, just updating because I realise we have not resolved the problem for you yet. You have not made contact, I would imagine because of the onset of the Corona virus pandemic which has overtaken everything and it would not be safe or advisable for you to come out to the surgery to discuss non-urgent things at the present time. I hope you remain well and once this is all over please do contact us if you would like to. I will therefore alter our response to 'no change planned' for now but the door is open for the future. Best wishes, and keep well.

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