Holland House Surgery Within Lytham Primary Care Centre

I have to say I am very pleased with the (clearly strained) service provided by the GPs and nurses at Holland House (and I fondly remember the good 'ole days being raised in the tranquility of Reed, Reid and Lowe - home visits for sick children at the drop of a hat, 24/7!!). Talk about progress.

However, the receptionists are very hit and miss (hence 1 star) and CAN be extremely unhelpful and rude. I realise it's not an easy job but they should act in line with their responses given at interview. There have been times the GP has sent me to the desk with requests for nurse appointments and follow up GP appointments (which should be akin to a golden ticket) and it's as though they're doing me a huge favour, rather than simply facilitating a service I pay for. Absolute "Computer says no" mindset with anything other than unadulterated praise for the crumbling NHS keenly categorised as abuse.

Also, the ridiculously long recorded message when you call has to go! People are busy too, we haven't got the spare time to be force-fed an irrelevant 2-3 minute message before joining a 30 person phone queue!

Had to come back here to change my review, as today Dr Sloan/the admin team probably saved our sons’ life.

My 11mo son became unresponsive and stopped breathing early hours of Monday morning and was rushed to hospital. Since coming home he has gotten progressively worse.

This morning I contacted the surgery really worried as he became very unwell overnight, with difficulty breathing. The reception team got him an appointment Within 30 minutes, and within an hour Dr Sloan had assessed him and wrote up a letter for us to take for him to hospital.

She contacted the on call paediatrician to organise us being seen at the vic, and the paediatrician disagreed with her recommendation and said he should be sent home from the surgery With steroids (which he had already had been given by the paramedics and the hospital).

She advocated for my son and explained the situation, that it was an emergency and she would be sending us to hospital anyway. She explained multiple times that he was tachycardic with a high respiratory rate and that he almost died Monday, and the steroids given so far hadn’t helped. The pediatrician still disagreed with her recommendations.

We decided to attend Preston instead as we didn’t want him to be seen by a dr who’s judgment may be clouded, and I’m so glad we did. He was rushed back in a&e straight away, and was given two rounds of steroids after his oxygen was seen as 89, which did not have any affect, followed by adrenaline via a nebuliser which the doctor explained was a “life saving drug”. He responded amazingly and is now looking so so much better.

Thank you all so much!

Shocking customer service, never any appointments when you get told to call at 8am they all seem to of disappeared. Children don't have priority which they should have! Very rude on the phone no wonder patients get annoyed asking questions which they don't need to know. I'll be changing back to my original doctors. Haven't even been with freckleton/lytham long and it's one big joke. If we are 5 minutes late we cant see the doctor but we are left waiting for over half an hour ridiculous. Do your job and get my daughters name right.

It is almost impossible to get an appointment at this practice. I’m a 70 year old asthmatic and I’m constantly referred to Whitegate Drive, Blackpool which is a 16 mile round trip. I want to see a doctor at my own practice which is an 8 mile round trip for me. There are at least 6 doctors at this practice so why is it so difficult to see one of them? I find that the receptionists are aggressive and rude and ringing for an appointment is so stressful that it exacerbates my condition. If I get an appointment the doctors are caring and professional. Perhaps the practice manager needs to review the appointments system and provide some training for receptionists on how to interact with patients in a caring and empathetic manner.

It's all about diverting patients away from the surgery.

Before you finish your sentance clinically untrained reception staff are clearly instructed to divert patients away from the surgery, this is potentially dangerous and unsafe. You have to fight for an appointment where the vulnerable no doubt won't feel comfortable doing which will be of detrement to health.

Once you do achieve being allowed an appointment the medical staff are fantastic.

One star for the 8am lottery and subsequent 'triage' from the Clinically untrained reception team.

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** Regarding your misleading reply**

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Could you clarify if your reception staff have had any CLINICAL training to safely triage your patients. If they are not clinically trained then how can they direct patients to the 'correct' source of help as you indicate happens.

I’ve been with Holland House for 37 years. They have been consistently excellent every time I’ve had contact with them.

I rang at 08:00 this morning, explained the problem and got an appointment for 10:30.

People who think it’s the surgery’s fault if they can’t get an appointment are completely misunderstanding the situation the NHS is in.

The government have been underfunding public healthcare since 2010 and trying to push private healthcare.

Complain to your MP, don’t denigrate an excellent practice and it’s dedicated, hardworking staff.