San Luis Obispo VA Clinic

"I've noticed quite a few negative reviews, so felt I should write about my experience. I've only started using the VA in the last 2 years because I had private insurance before. It's so hard to get a private doctor in this area that I went the VA route this time. I have had MUCH better care from the SLO VA clinic than almost any other doctor I've been to! Dr. Naik and her team are fantastic. I use the VA app to send messages and always get a response within an hour or two. Scheduling online appointments is a breeze and I've had appointments the very next day. Everyone at the SLO VA clinic is so helpful and professional. I have private insurance still, but always use the VA when possible. They also send out many "care in the community" referrals so I don't have to go to LA to see a specialist. If you've experienced issues in the past, I encourage you to give them another shot!"

"To my surprise, VA clinics apparently act as independent clinics, not as shared resources under the VA. Regardless of my prior acceptance into VA medical, and service at another VA clinic, I was required to appear in person to fill out 4 pages of forms to register to be seen in this clinic. I was assured at the time (a Friday morning), that I would be contacted on Monday about my need for an appointment regarding my malfunctioning VA-provided hearing aids. After days of waiting, I called to schedule an appointment. (It turns out that all calls to them are answered by the Los Angeles regional office who transfer you to the appropriate SLO department.) After a month and three left messages, I still have not heard back from them. The LA regional operator now tells me they never answer their phones, not even the general clinic number. Every call goes to voicemail. That would not be so bad if they would respond to those messages."

"I have not had the experience of visiting the clinic in person. I have been trying to get established with a primary doctor after moving from PA, but there is no way directly contact the clinic! You need to get routed through the greater LA call center who can leave a message for your doctor. But when they call me back I am at work and miss the call, then when I go to return the message I go round and round! Very unefficent, and I need to get back surgery in 2 weeks and can't even get a receptionist on the phone to schedule me an appointment! Worst service I've seen in amy VA clinic."

"I have never written a review online but felt this was necessary as I have been calling this clinic for 8 months and have never received a response. I then took the time to drive to the clinic to see if it was still there. It was in fact still there and I was able to schedule an appointment. The earliest appointment I could get was 2 months from the date I walked in. If your goal is to frustrate Veterans and have them stop using the VA you are doing a great job. Shame on you!"

"This has turned into the worst VA clinic that I have ever dealt with, and I have been to a lot of VA facilities throughout the country. I don't know what's going on with the management here, but whatever kind of management is running this place really isn't managing anything. At any time you call this clinic, you go through about 5 minutes of irrelevant information with absolutely no option to get a hold of anyone. Not even an option to be put on hold for an hour. Instead, after your irrelevant greeting the phone system goes straight to voicemail. And not a single voicemail that I have left out of perhaps 8 have gone answered. Not one. In the cases where someone has finally called me back after severe nagging through secure messages to the Santa Maria clinic, they only leave their main phone number where of course I can't get a hold of them again. To be fair, this is a long tradition that is practiced by many VA facilities throughout the country, where providing direct numbers to real people is guarded as secret; for what purpose I have no idea. As a person that has worked and lived in many places in the country, I can say this VA clinic is truly dismaying in its care for Veterans and unfortunately is another example to add to the statistic board of VA clinics that are failing Veteran's. It wasn't always like this, but I can say that now that I have moved back to my hometown area, it has turned into this terrible excuse for a medical facility in the last 3 months that I have been back in the area."