About GP at hand
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Used to be an excellent service. Now speaking to a doctor has become as easy as to get a degree in Medicine. The system is complex and ends up telling you "go to A&E" or "speak to a nurse" making you waste time and effort, in a time where really you don't have much of either. You want to discuss the appointment? call a number and you'll be told "ah - you have to go through the system again". And if you do, and you get the same undesired outcome... what are your only solutions? Well, either call the number again (snake and ladders anyone?) or go through an appointment you don't need to be told "ah - you need to make an appointment with a doctor"...
They referred me to the respiratory department at my local hospital, without conducting the required 'tests in the community'. The hospital dutifully rejected the referral and sent me back to my GP for these tests. It later transpired that this service, which has a number of clinics across London, only has one lung function diagnostic machine based at their Victoria site. As it turns out this equipment was broken, so essentially this GP service is unable to competently refer anyone for a respiratory consultation. Formal complaint was issued months ago, but alas it received no response. Primary care needs a total overall and these lot need taking out of business. The typical wait time for a PHONE APPOINTMENT is three weeks. Then, if you're deemed worthy of an in-person consultation the average wait time is a FURTHER THREE WEEKS! If you have repeat prescriptions, expect a constant barrage of requests for the dosage and suitability to be reviewed. I suspect this is so their clinicians can do easy and mundane work, whilst billing the NHS top dollar for their 'services' These absolute charlatans also totally ignored the pain I have lived in for years, passing it off as things that it is not. These absolute clients would have known this, and saved me years of pain, had they referred me for the correct scans, but no, that's not profitable for eMed, they'd rather get you reliant on pills and repeat appointments instead. In the end I had to go private to get a full diagnosis and now on a path to recovery, with no thanks to eMed.
I transfered to them a few months ago after being on a waiting list for a diagnosis for 3 years at another practice. Once I transfered, I was seen, helped through the "right to choose" process and diagnosed within a week. The longest I've had to wait for an appointment at the GP was 2 weeks. If I had any questions or if the situation was a bit more urgent, I called them and the reception staff were always really helpful. I've been seen by a few doctors but recently I was seen by Dr. Tessa Leake and I was so overwhelmed by how much she cared and was willing to listen to me - to work through my symptoms to find a solution. I am unbelievably happy with this service and it is such a breath of fresh air to trust a practice with your health.
Terrible service. They automatically cancelled all my repeated prescriptions. It took me two months to get a telephone appointment with a doctor, rather than with a pharmacist. The GP was in a hurry, as he had another phone appointment in 15 minutes, so refused to discuss my health issues in full. I had to request my medications straight to NHS. NHS phone service provided more support than them. It is better not having a GP rather than choosing GP at hand.
The experience is quite poor, as many others have noted. Appointments are hard to secure, and receptionists are unhelpful, often directing patients to online services or phone calls. Doctors are consistently rushed and frequently late, making it difficult to address individual needs. It took six months to finally obtain a link to book blood tests and the tests were the wrong one...