Upper Norwood Group Practice

"Once again, it is a completely a lottery how you experience with this practice was, all depends on what receptionist picks the phone up. Two weeks ago a had the nicest one, possibly the only nice person in there, today I had the rudest, unhelpful and disrespectful person. All I need it is to update my address as I don’t want to miss any correspondence from hospital, I have been at the practice once in 5 years, I don’t even bother. Two weeks ago the nicest receptionist changed the details for me over the phone, today apparently that was not possible, again depends who picks the phone different rules apply!"

"I have been with this practice for nearly 5 years, but I'm now moving to another GP, because the quality of the services, both at reception and from the doctors, has gone down drastically in the past few years, and I now have no trust left in them. Their booking system is atrocious and makes it impossible to plan an appointment around a working schedule. You can only book up to 48h in advance, and usually by the time you call all appointments are fully booked. I finally managed to speak to a doctor on a phone appointment, who absolutely did not listen to what I was telling him and told me he was "99.99% sure" it was something minor before sending me to the local pharmacy, refusing to give me an in-person appointment, despite me telling him that the pain was located in a different place than what he thought it was. I still went to the pharmacy, and as soon as I showed them where the pain was they confirmed that couldn't be what my doctor thought. Now my question is: how can you tell a patient you're "99.99% sure" about a diagnosis, when you haven't even seen or examined them? I tried booking an in person appointment this time, but was told by reception I had to go through a phone appointment again, despite having had one already. I'm giving up on this practice, as it is definitely not what it used to be and I'm tired of wasting my time and energy on these pointless phone calls when I've been in pain for months. I know that even if I managed to see a doctor in person, they'd probably just send me home with "paracetamol, water and rest" without trying to find the cause of the pain... This practice no longer hires doctors, but just keepers of budget, and I have absolutely no trust in them helping me look after my health."

"Like with most surgeries in London, the receptionist are rude, unhelpful and dismissive while demanding that we are patient and submissively polite to them. The doctors, although more polite and friendlier, are constantly on a rush to dissmis anything we say, or don't even listen to what you have to say, just stare at their screen until you stop talking. If you have a choice, don't choose this surgery. I don't have, for now."

"I really don’t understand from where the bad reviews are coming from! The receptionists always help and pick up the phone anytime you call and help you no matter what and they are super nice and helpful. The GP’s and nurses are amazing human beings and professionals. Thank you all for doing such a wonderful work and carrying about your patients. This is so far the best local GP ❤️"