W Orihunu

Absolutely useless, I’ve been with various doctors in Birmingham and this one is definitely one of the worst. Registering was an easy process, I was swayed by the fact that this medical centre has a chemist built into the side of it which is open the same hours as the surgery. Having a very young baby at the time I thought this would make life easier when it came to the colds, shivers and teething troubles that she would have to see the doctor about.
A week after registering my daughter was taken ill at around 11am, she was three weeks old and became quite poorly very quickly. I rang the surgery immediately only to have a very snotty receptionist inform me that there were no appointments left and I’d have to call back at 8am the next morning. I politely explained that it couldn’t wait and stressed the fact that my baby was so young, this didn’t make the slightest bit of difference and she referred me to the bumph I was given upon registering that specifically stated appointments are strictly on a first come first served basis at 8am every morning.
In the end I took my daughter to the Childrens Hospital in Birmingham because time was ticking on and she was getting more and more miserable. The staff at the hospital were absolutely disgusted but stressed to me that the fault in this instance was with the receptionist and not the doctor, I was urged to make a complaint and given the brilliant news that my daughter was simply suffering from a cold and ear infection. Not brilliant for her, I know, but brilliant compared to the things that had been running through my mind!
A couple of days later I had a routine appointment with one of the nurses at the surgery on Twickenham Road, I told her what had happened and she agreed that the receptionist should have at least spoken to the doctor to ascertain whether he would see my baby before fobbing me off with rules and regulations.
The thing is with this surgery, the doctors and nurses are fantastic and so are the midwives. BUT the receptionists are surly, rude and totally unwaivable when it comes to the rules of the surgery.
When you sign on for a doctor you need them to be flexible as there’s no saying that you will be fine at 8am but become poorly later in the day — and if that happens at this surgery then it’s tough luck and you’ll have to wait until 8am the next day. I was talking to a lady in the surgery one day who has late stage cancer and she told me she was taken very ill one day, she is terminal, and still she could not get past the blasted receptionist to speak to the doctor even though it could very possibly have been a matter of life and death for her.
A disgrace, I think the lovely doc at this surgery should sack the receptionists and employ someone with an ounce of compassion!