The Gainsborough Practice - Bracknell

Gloria Rich

Feel so lucky that this is my Doctors surgery. Reception staff are always helpful & friendly and all follow up information is given by email,text & phone calls. We are reminded when blood tests due + reviews

Angie Moore

I’ve recently had experience with Gainsborough that I’m really at a bit of a loss of words as to how to portray how professional and attentive my care has been. I can’t thank Dr.Sophie Bearpark and one of the Secretaries there enough for having the understanding and tolerance to all that has been experienced over the last 8 weeks. Thank you both for all you help, assistance and care I certainly will not forget it. ? the secretary’s name by the way is Catherine ?

Stephen Woodley

Reception staff would rather do anything than actually speak to anyone that comes to the desk. Waste of time trying to get through on the phone to book any sort of appointment. All of the horror stories you hear, this is it, this is where they derive. Shocking.

Ratnam Diwanesh

When you have to make an appointment with your primary care doctor, getting through to their surgery can often feel like hitting a brick wall. Most appointments these days must be made by phone, but many of us have grown frustrated over the fact that it appears to be so difficult to simply get our inquiries answered. Calling a doctor's surgery is like playing a game of telephone tag, and getting any actual resolution is unlikely - every call just seems to bring you back to the beginning.

At its core, this is a complaint about the inefficiency of communication in doctor’s surgeries. Too often, when you call a doctor’s office it seems like the receptionist is too busy to take your call and arrange a consultation. Either they never answer the phone, no matter how many times you call, or they refer you to someone else who is yet farther away from your desired goal. Even after giving your information, days can pass with no response.

What makes this problem so frustrating is that it prevents patients from getting the care they need. A doctor’s office should be a source of accessible healthcare, yet many of us struggle with being able to even book an appointment. Without being able to speak to a receptionist, patients may find themselves going to the emergency room because they do not know what else to do.

This issue is often wide-spread and can be experienced in most medical facilities. While it is understandable that some days are busier than others and that the staff may need extra help, it is not acceptable that people’s health needs are not being met. Issues with medical appointments can be extremely distressing for patients and may result in a decreased quality of life.

A solution to this problem must start from the top. Doctor’s surgeries should implement a system that ensures phone calls are answered in a timely fashion. This could be done by hiring additional staff or training receptionists to quickly handle callers’ inquiries. Alternatively, surgery staff should consider providing an online portal where patients can easily access appointment schedules and book appointments at their own convenience.

Doctors should take responsibility for the way they are running their practice and prioritize patient care, no matter how busy their day is. They should attempt to create a more efficient communication system to ensure that phone calls are answered, and patients’ needs are heard. Patients should not be put through the ringer, just to get the help they need.

Daniel Lingurici

They don't have a clue what they are doing. Bad communication between them, and very upsetting for me and my wife, because we had to come so many times to just sign a piece of paper and confirm that they have the email with the details that doctor has asked for. Nothing is going OK, after months, we still have to wait for another call back ,as the receptionist,she couldn't find the paper for us to sign or to confirm that she received the email as the doctor said to ask for confirmation, the lady there just refused to confirm or help in any way...just sent us home to wait a bit more for another call so we can go back again...what an adventure...very rude and disgusting staff .

Anne Debens

Since Gainsborough joined up with Forest Health I am disgusted with the lack of duty of care. I was under the care of Dr Goel who I have been informed has left.

Prior to my stoma operation I had two bowel resections so I have a short colon and my electrolytes go down due to a short colon making me very ill and I am now on medication to alleviate my electrolytes plummeting. I was advised by Dr. Goel to have a blood test every two weeks. The last three times (since the merger) I have asked whoever answers the phone to ensure that the blood requests are on the system and I am assured they are - they are not!! The nurse at Boundary House had to print off forms for me to take to ensure that she had the request for bloods. One of the doctors at The Forest Group called Jeremy said he would ensure that the forms would be on the system when I went to Boundary House, they were not! Not very professional is it?

I have just spoken to a locum GP and now advised to have a blood test every three months!

I would also like to state that when calling the GP, the recorded message is now on a loop and one has no option to speak to reception. The whole system is in shambles and I am seriously thinking of trying to find a decent GP practise who cares about its patients if there is one anywhere

L O L A O Connor

Was placed in a queue (45th) from 8:01am, 2 and half hrs later finally get through only to be told after that long wasted wait that a triage would call me back later that day…. I’m still waiting and it’s 8:16pm, it’s very rare I ever phone this surgery but my daughter has been sick and we have been treating her with OTC, with Scarlet fever circulating leading to Strep A this doctor’s surgery should be able to reply to all patients requests… we are not calling for the fun of it. It’s a service that is not working extremely poor and needs looking into. I just couldn’t let a customer wait on call at my place of work for 2.5 hrs. Never get a response back to the reviews… wonder why?

Biker Bu

The push button to allow disabled and buggies out easily doesn't work.
It took ages to book in as the electronic booking in system wasn't working. By the time I booked in with a human I had missed my appointment and had to wait ages for my procedure. Merging with Forest Health Group was meant to provide better service. I can no longer walk to my usual doctor as I keep getting sent to the far side of town. When I ring up I'm stuck in a huge queue and give up. I used the NHS app to ask for one of my meds to be put onto my repeat prescription but they dodnt read these notes and so I will just have to join a queue of 30Plus people. I have a full time job and I work shifts so I can't always just ring you for hours. We are looking for another doctor