Long Furlong Medical Centre - Abingdon

Catherine H.

As an elderly person that's pretty good at IT I find the whole system quite opaque. For example if you look on the net there seems to be several ways of contacting the services .You then realise that a small greenish in colour and not very obvious heading is the area you need to click on to go to the form that needs to be filled in for an appointment.
Having managed to fill in the form describing my illness _at the very end I was taken back to the start having pressed to continue. I was then informed there were no more appointments. Why was my time wasted in filling in the form?

Emily P.

I’ve been going to long furlong for multiple years due to having chronic asthma and among other medical issues. I’ve just tried to book an urgent appointment and the women at the front desk are so unhelpful, it’s like they couldn’t wait for me to get off the phone, they say to go through the website but it says that you can at 8am, I didn’t get a chance to do it until 9am and it was already unavailable due to “reduced capacity” and that I would have to try again tomorrow, so I called and then they said to go through 111 which I then did and the 111 form told me to contact my gp as soon as possible!! All these new houses being built in the surrounding areas are making it so much harder to be able to book an appointment now. I know I am a young adult but everyone has medical issues that need to be dealt with.

Charlotte T.

Awful experience with the receptionist this morning and being reduced to tears while getting in contact about my medication. Unwanted negative tone when I have called this morning and on other occasions in regards to appointments because I can’t get onto the booking system while I’m at work.
It’s a shame because I’ve been at this surgery for over 10 years and it’s just gotten worse with the service the receptionist provide.

Daniel_G116 G.

Receptionist was short over the phone and spoke over me continuously, refused to listen to anything I had to say explaining everything is done online.
The last time I booked an appointment over the phone, the receptionist also took the wrong details of why I needed the appointment…..

Keith M.

Absolute shambles.

My daughter is home from uni over Christmas and needs some repeat prescriptions and other medication. Previously registered here at Long Furlong, but having also registered at another GP at university, she has tried for the last two weeks while with us at home in Abingdon to register as a temporary patient.

No amount of online forms, phone calls or visits in person has got her any further forward to being able to get her medication. Mixed messages, confusing processes, poor automated communications, different instructions from different people, and we as parents can’t help as she is now over 18.

This is all new for her as a young adult, and no-one seems to want to help guide her through this to a proper resolution.

Pretty much at the point of giving up now and putting up with the discomfort until she goes back to uni.

Really disappointing. We’ve been in the area since 2006 and brought up three children here with Long Furlong; this sort of thing has never been a problem before.

I feel sad to leave this review as I’m a big believer in the NHS, but unfortunately this is the reality of the experience we’ve had.

UPDATE: my daughter has decided today to try another surgery. She called The Abingdon Surgery on Stert Street who asked her to come in, register temporarily and has now had a phone consultation and will be picking up meds this afternoon. All sorted within less than half a day.

Why on Earth can you not provide a basic, comparable service Long Furlong?!?! You haven’t been able to manage to get the basics right in over two weeks of my daughter trying to get help from you.

Please don’t give me the standard response to this review by asking me to write in (without actually giving instructions on where or who to write to, as I see on most of the replies) - we’ve already sent a detailed email to you with details of my daughter’s poor experience.

We’re now seriously considering moving all the family to Abingdon Surgery.

Gerry H.

I have been with this practice for 38 years and despite the current problems have always with the odd occasion been accommodated
On the last 3 occasions I have attended the surgery the only 2 doctors available were locums.None of the regular doctors were in attendance and I have only seen my registered doctor once since I was transferred to her on the retirement of Dr Moore.Incidentally I only found out he had retired 6 months after the event and had to ask who my doctor was.
I recently attended with my grandson aged 4 and saw a locum.He was pleasant but after a very cursory look at his throat sent us away to use calpol 5 days later and he is no better.
The locum will never see us again 5 minute appointment and we were out if the door.
Do we try to arrange a further appointment?
Will we see yet another doctor?
Would it not be feasible to have at least one of the permanent doctors available on a daily basis
there appears to be at least 6/7 on the list.
On that point I receive the surgery newsletter but am in the dark as to who is who and when they are available

umair K.

"I am extremely disappointed with the appointment booking system at this medical center. The lack of option to book an appointment over the phone is inconvenient, and the online process is equally frustrating.

Requiring patients to fill out a form at 8am, without guarantee of an appointment, creates unnecessary stress and uncertainty. It's unacceptable to leave patients wondering if they'll be granted an appointment, and whether they need to take time off work.

This system needs significant improvement to provide a more patient-centered experience. I hope you will take my feedback seriously and make necessary changes to address these issues."

Sharon D.

After 25 years I’ve moved to another surgery in Abingdon - I can now make a phone call which is answered within minutes - I’m not 10th in the queue & I get to speak to a polite receptionist - no stupid online forms to complete just to be triaged & maybe be offered a telephone appointment and they disappear within 30 minutes of opening time - first face-to-face appointment offered for over 5 years - very refreshing - such a terrible shame - used to be such a good surgery but I agree with previous comments - just glad I’ve managed to find another surgery locally who are a little bit more receptive to a patient who hasn’t had a face-to-face appointment with a GP for over 5 years because they are so busy - I didn’t even know the name of my assigned GP but I do now