University Health Centre Swansea

Great GP in my opinion. I've received great care from Dr Heatley over the years and she has always been an advocate for my health. Nurses are fab -- Sister Kate was very reassuring and helpful during my smear which I appreciated. I always manage to get an appointment when needed, though it is obviously busier during term times.

I absolutely love the GP surgery and the staff here are excellent but I do have one major gripe and that is trying to get an appointment. If an issue crops up (as it has recently) you have to call in the morning to try and get an appointment. These same day afternoon appointments seem to go really fast so its really hard to get one. After that your only option is either to phone the next day or to go to open surgery in the morning. Surely there is a better appointment system that either waiting over a week to see a GP or calling in the morning and hoping to get lucky? Gripe aside, the staff are all wonderful and the facility is really nice.

The doctors themselves are very friendly, but this university medical centre is very much understaffed (considering the size of the student population who largely rely on this surgery, let alone the surrounding residents in the area who also use the facility). The reception staff are always incredibly rude and difficult and seem to think their main purpose is to make getting an appointment as traumatic as possible. For example, I was asked if my condition was on a list of things that could be dealt with by a nurse. I wasn't sure and said so, at which point the receptionist (who does not have medical training) told me to tell her what was wrong and she would decide. As she'd already made me feel very unwelcome and health is a private issue, I refused and was told that she 'could' put me in with a doctor but if it turned out that it was something that could be dealt with by a nurse then I would be sent back out and would have to come back to reception and be put at the back of the queue for the nurse. I'm not sure how the use of threats and humiliation is patient centered care, but there we go. Access is also poor and the surgery does not open on weekends at all. As previously stated, the doctors themselves are nice but they don't always fill me with confidence and due to the volume of patients they see, appointments feel very rushed. Would not recommend.

AVOID. The room is actually quite expensive. Poor soundproof, tiny place for showing, and tiny window. The ventilation system doesn't work at all.

Honestly the worst doctors I’ve ever been to see. Multiple times told to “breathe through the pain” and to try to “meditate the pain away” whilst suffering with chronic pain (???) Told me that the specialist I was under at the hospital had wrongly diagnosed me (without going through my medical history) suggesting that I stop having treatment and my condition would “go away naturally”