GP at Hand Avis 

I believe my Emed (formally Babylon) is now moving to GP at Hand. It's too early to know whether the service will be just as good as it has been under Emed but it makes sense for the NHS to be in charge of their own patients and offer an online service for convenience where you can order a repeat prescription or have a quick call with a clinician if you have a problem .

I found very difficult to get appointments with the same doctor , as specially when my follow up appointment got cancel twice I got book with some new , I think we should be give option to choose which doctor we want to see

This is absolutely the worst service. The app is impossible to navigate and customer service impossible to get in touch with. Emails and calls aren't responded to.

Here's a summary of the absolute nightmare I am dealing with

29 July - Booked first appointment for 9 Aug
9 Aug - Appointment
27 Aug - Got the referral letter (for a dermatologist)
31 Aug - Used referral
Sept - Referral denied and sent back to GP But no communication from eMed
Mid- Sept - contacted eMed and got no response
8 Oct - contact eMed customer support again
23 Oct - receive response
4 Nov - appointment for 14 Nov
14 Nov - I'm told that this isn't the correct appointment so I need to book another appointment. The app shows no appointment till Feb 2025

What should one do in this scenario?! They should have spent money on actually improving services instead of rebranding themselves to eMed 🙄😉

Used to be really good until Emed took over. Needed an urgent appointment last month, couldn’t get an appointment for 3 weeks then had to wait another 2 weeks for a face to face appointment. For the past 5 days I have been trying to book a gp or nurse practitioner appointment and there are none available all the way up until Feb?!? The chat service is an automated robot and there is no option for live chat with a person anymore. I have multiple chronic illnesses and found this service good before as I could get appointments quickly if l needed. But now it’s as if I have been abandoned. I am going to be writing a complaint as this service is just awful and should not be allowed.

Quite simply the best example to provide Wes Streeting with a reason not to let private health care take on NHS services. Exceptionally poor service in booking appointments since Emed took over in 2023, weeks to even speak to anyone let alone a gp. After weeks of waiting a call with a practice nurse lead to me receiving a message to book a face to face appt. When I used the link I was told no appointments were available and to either email (I did and received no reply in the next two weeks) or call. I managed to speak to someone eventually only to be told that there were no appointments this month and they could not book anything later as the system was being changed on 2 December. When I asked to speak to a manager i was told they do not take calls and there was nothing that could be done.
This is what happens when a health service is sold to a provider that only cares about profit - there is no surprise that there is an option for their weight loss programme (paid for) before the NHS option when you call them.
An absolutely abysmal service which has got worse and worse since emed took over.
The NHS should be ashamed to be in collaboration with this company

Gp didn’t turn up and there was no way to contact GP at hand to rebook the appointment. The chat service was automated and unable to help and the phone line had major delays and didn’t have an option to discuss appts missed by the GP.

I will likely be changing drs services following this.

The service has significantly deteriorated. In the past, it was possible to make an appointment within a few days, but now it takes weeks. My referral was cancelled after months of waiting, and no real reason was provided. The NHS is facing serious challenges, and this situation is not sustainable.

The clinic is super clean and welcoming. I was there for my smear test and my nurse Lauryn was just fantastic, so lovely and warm, explained the whole procedure, what it was for, what the next steps were, etc. She made me feel very at ease and safe, and made the whole appointment 10x better.

Great professional service

Being using them for years and always very professional

It feels that the service has too many demands placed on it and this is resulting in clinicians behaving like robots.

Before it was bought by an American company, Babylon was a great and fast service, operationally efficient (probably not financially as it went bust) but it work great for us patients.

I was not frequent user but when need I always had access to the professionals, either GP, nurse, pharmacist or other - it would take a few days, maximum a week but it would get done. Yes, continuity of care was a problem for those with chronic or acute conditions as you never get to see the same person but at least I could choose the time and even the person with the expertise I needed. This was reassuring.

Then, it came the buy out - EMED and changes on the way we book appointments ( apparently we should be able to book through the NHS app but there is nowhere to be seen yet?).

Now, oh well - I would not consider this a GP service now - I am considering going back to the traditional GP practices because:

-No GP appointments available at all ( looked until February)
-Takes 2 weeks to see an nurse practitioner
-No phone answered during the morning to book urgent reviews - you better call 111 honestly

This is inefficient, waste much more resources and time to patients and NHS staff - I understand the cost reduction needed but this is not a service at all now.

If the 0 would be an option this would be just about the right. I was waiting more than an hour for clinician to join but no luck ...as I needed to reorder medication which i am in need after I was apparently overdue for blood tests. I suppose to be getting 7days suppose which still has not been approved and I need to wait now 2 weeks for a new pappointment. Ridiculous and appalling.

Anna was great, took the time to listen, made an effort to speak to my son directly and generally was really proactive.

Only shame is that it now takes quite a while to get an appointment where before you could usually get on for the same week.

Great appointment

Efficient and smart way to get advice and prescriptions.

You have the country's best diabetic nurse. She has knowledge, clinical skills and is best at patient interaction.

Great Service. Dr Rubarani Balasothy demonstrated experienced, professionalism and genuine care.

2 weeks wait for a GP appointment is disappointed and appalling considering its a remote GP app.

However the doctor was Fantastic. Kudos to her. Will raise a separate feedback review for her.