WHAT is happening at Grove Rd. surgery? 

I visited the surgery yesterday afternoon at 2pm to pick up a prescription, which I have been waiting for for 10 days, to find it shut! 

Whatever happened to Theresa May’s statement that surgeries should be open 8am -8pm?

Not even a notice on the door, I pressed the assistance bell and a man told me the surgery would be closed for regular staff training on Wednesday afternoons.

It would have been courteous to have told their service users of this regular closure, e-mail is a very useful tool. 

The chemist opposite the surgery did not know they were shut even though they were expecting prescriptions that afternoon for patients needing them.

Patients also have to phone for an appointment on the day they want to be seen, no appointments in advance.

A receptionist will point you in the direction of nurse or to wait for a call from the doctor, usually by late morning.

This now puts such a strain on the telephone service that to get through to the surgery took from 8.15am to 12pm the other week.

We are all aware that the health service is under a lot of strain, but what about the strain and stress that is put on the patients?

Health service? What service? No! Health non-service.

A frustrated patient, Lordshill.