Gloucester Road Surgery

It is already a puzzle to move in in a new area, then I received a such charming comment by the masked receptionist that said that my postcode is not in the area and she cannot accept me as a new patient. What the hell is going on!?? We are not free to choice a medical surgery in this country?? What is the point to saying in the website that new patients are welcome when it is not true!! Rephrase it: 'only new patients that are close to Gloucester Road Surgery'.

A Superb Medical Practice run by a caring and empathetic GP and efficient, friendly and very competent staff. I have always felt valued and have never been turned away, whenever I have had a serious issue which could not wait. The Doctor and his staff work beyond their stipulated hours in order that we get accomodated and are seen when in need. I highly commend this Doctor and Practice staff and feel that it unusual to find such practices existing in the area.

Background: T1 Diabetic patient. I have plenty of experience with GPs, and while we all have the usual complains - tough to get an appointment, awful phone systems, etc, I can happily say that most surgery's I've been with have at least always been professional, courteous, and knew what they were doing. I can say none of these things about Dr Lai or this surgery. Over my brief stay here (I have now moved to a different local surgery) I encountered the following problems: - Refusing to set my wife and I up as patients multiple times despite providing more than enough evidence of address (thanks here to the practice manager who was the one who finally let us register) - My entire medical history was somehow "lost" due to their staff failing to enter it onto the system despite three(!) appointments to get set up as patients, going through the whole history each time - Taking over a month to prescribe medicine to me despite repeated chasers from myself multiple times a day, leaving me to attend hospital twice due to a lack of insulin (thanks here to my previous GP who, despite me not being registered with them and now out of their catchment area, did agree to help me in the meantime) - Once FINALLY set up, Dr Lai prescribed the wrong medicines - Once FINALLY set up, Dr Lai REFUSED to prescribe another medicine because that would be £5 too far for the NHS - Once the ABOVE issues were rectified, refusing again to prescribe any medicines until I have a further appointment with the Doctor to go over the same issues again. - Now that I have left the surgery, refusing to honour outstanding prescriptions as I am "no longer their problem". I am amazed at how unhelpful, unprofessional, and uncaring this surgery has been. I have missed days of work getting these issues resolved and not once did any member of staff try and help, let alone apologise for any of these issues. Appalling.

Dr Lai is an excellent GP. When other practices refused to believe there was a problem with my wife's back, he insisted on referring her for an MRI scan. The scan discovered a tumour which could have resulted in paralysis. Through Dr Lai's diligence and persistence, my wife was referred to a specialist and she was operated on within two weeks. A caring and thoughtful GP who does make time for his patients.

Dr Lai saved my sister from being paralysed. His thorough and caring professionalism is second to none and I would recommend him to anyone looking for a GP. Thank you so much Dr Lai!!