The White Horse Medical Practice - Faringdon

Anna Longley

I received a letter for a health check and put in request for appointment through the website about 5.30pm and expected to hear back after a few days, bearing in mind just a routine check.
Had a lovely lad call me just at 6pm to book me appointment, giving me options to suit me, plus a follow up.
I then added I had previously received letter and was probably overdue for a smear test. He checked, said yes and let me book you in an appointment straight after health check so all done at once.

Considering the pressure NHS is under I have quite a low bar of expectations. But even if I didn't, damn that was impressive customer service.

Wish I got his name, but thought definitely deserved a good review at very least.

Tom Wainwright

I spent some time the night before I called up to make an appointment about my health reading these reviews.

I absolutely do NOT want to take away from anything anyone has said about their experience at WHMP. That is not the purpose of this review.

But I would also like to let people that are in a similar position to me to understand that reviews are often skewed by a vocal minority - people are more likely to review if they've had a bad experience.

Do not let the reviews discourage you from making a call you absolutely SHOULD make. If you think you have a problem, make the phone call.

In my experience I called just after 8am and was put in a long queue of 18 people. However there is an option to save your space in the queue and get called back which I did. I was called around 20 minutes later by a friendly member of staff who took my details and told me to expect a call back later on from a GP. I got that call around 1hr later and was asked to come in within the hour.

I was well looked after by Dr. Andrew, who was very polite, receptive and thorough. After a 15 minute consultation I received a referral to further investigate my issue.

Excellent service delivered particularly when you consider the challenges faced by the NHS and practises around the country.

Just make the phone call 🙂

Laura Smith

I feel like most people only do a review when they’ve had a negative experience.
Mines been more of a positive one and if you’re thinking of switching to this GP practice I’d recommend you do.
I’m deaf and have problems hearing over the phone, the gp staff have worked around this fantastically, they send messages via engage consult on their website which you log in with your nhs details, and with face to face appointments rather than other the phone.
Unlike other practices I’ve been to if you have an issue and ask for an appointment in the morning you’ll normally be seen that day or within the next few days instead of two-three weeks time.

All the staff are approachable and friendly and go out their way to make sure your needs are met.
They have a pharmacy dispensary on-site which send text messages to let you know your prescription is ready for collection.

Overall I think they’re fab

Cathy Lines

I’ve been with this practice for around 12 years and my experience has varied from appalling to good. Appalling has been when a two week cancer test referral wasn’t sent to the hospital, when I couldn’t get an appointment for my son with active psychosis for a week because they didn’t believe me even though I was clearly very distressed and struggling, and a referral from an a&e dept had been made. He is now with the psychosis service. Good was when my abdominal pain was taken seriously and I’m now on bowel cancer surveillance. The pressure on the NHS is such that huge barriers are now in place for people to access primary care - engage consult and lack of capacity each day being 2 of them. The lack of compassion when faced with people in distress, the reductionist approach of dealing with one issue at a time when for some people there are multiple things all going on which aren’t always easy to explain on the phone doesn’t help. I’m the main carer for my very elderly father and son with serious mental health problems. Sometimes I need help with my own physical and mental health but am too tired to bother. It’s hard enough managing two other people’s care with the current barriers to getting help.

aislinn Patten

This is my third doctors surgery in as many years after moving house and is the best one I have found in Oxfordshire. They are the first surgery to take me seriously when I am unwell and book me in for more tests, they call back or ask us to go in after we do an E-Consult every time, and I have never had a problem getting an appointment. I even went in at 10am for an appointment last week and they got me back in the same day at 2pm for a blood test to work out what was wrong. There is 4 of us in my house registered here and we have all had a really positive experience. I finally feel like we are at a doctors where they actually listen to you and want you to be well instead of fobbing you off!

Zamil du Pisanie

Trying to interact with staff in this practice is an absolute horrible experience. There is no understanding from the staff on reception answering the phones, they strictly follow a script and refuses to deviate from that, regardless of information being relayed.
Most recently my 6 year old son was asked to have a blood test done, only to find out that the sample was not big enough to complete all tests required. Upon submitting a eConsult for discussing retested results after abnormal reading, a cryptic message was received to say a remote GP will call on a weekend day. I was left thinking to myself, what is the point of waking up at 7am to ensure a eConsult is submitted if you are simply going to be referred to a remote GP? Calling the practice to challenge this, as we as parents are left worried for the health of our young child, there was no option to challenge this decision and speak to a GP on the day. There was also no room for deviating from the script to at least put our minds at ease!

This is one of many interactions with the practice and specifically the reception staff, which left us with raised blood pressure due to the sheer lack of empathy displayed by staff talking directly to patients. There is a LOT to be desired and improved upon

Andrew Graves2TW2

This is the worst practice I have ever had! The dispensary team are rude! The practice does not seem to care and are very ignorant in patient needs. I know every practice is busy ..aren't we all! Impossible to get a GP appointment, can't even get a phone consultation to talk about my repeat prescriptions. Complete waste of time!

alex johnson

Have had a preassure in my chest for about 12 months now and have been in to see the GP here 3 times now.

First time he said "its probably nothing, come back if it gets worse"....

Second time I came when it got worse and asked for a scan which he refused to refer me for because "I'm young so its unlikely to be anything serious"

Third time he prescribed me heartburn medication without giving me a diagnosis... Despite me explicitly telling him it feels nothing like heartburn.

Now have to book again because its has continued to get worse and I am very worried for my health.

Not only that, but you can only book same day on a weekday and wait most the day for a call back like nobody has god damn job to go to.

A disgrase the the NHS, and to the profession.