Crowns in Basingstoke

“Feel I need to even out the reviews & therefore have selected 5*, despite thinking they deserve 3.5-4*. However, I don't know a single doctor's practice/medical centre that deserves 5* - even private ones! The current 2.5* may not truly reflect Crown Heights due to people only reviewing when something negative happens, plus people not realising the whole of the NHS is dire these days. I have extensive direct & indirect experiences with most of the practices in Basingstoke and Crown Heights remains joint top 2. As mentioned, I also have experiences with private medical centres. EVERYWHERE currently has moved to using E-consult as first line of contact - some of these get answered within 24hrs, others take a few days depending on the issue. Every practice's E-consult system isn't great. Receptionists will often ask you to lie to expedite the system when it comes to certain issues. Don't forget if you worsen whilst you await a response, it says to call them. I see E-consult as beneficial in some ways, as now we have written proof of what we've asked for help with. It also stops patients coming to appointments unprepared, completely relying on doctors to figure out what's wrong, from minimal info. We live in a time where we have to take our health into our own hands a lot more - writing symptoms lists/diagrams & timelines before appointments (you can send these virtually also) - anything you think might be useful & potentially doing your own research can be beneficial, as long as you feel capable doing so. Crown Heights has multiple doctors that will appreciate you coming into appointments with a sense of understanding and direction, whereas many doctors elsewhere find this offensive & undermining of their authority, due to being on a power-trip. Everywhere is difficult to get same-day appointments unless you phone within the first 30-60mins of opening, however Crown Heights is one of the better ones as they do actually have appointments to offer & usually call if agreed. The receptionists are generally friendly/helpful unlike many other practices, but like with any staff who are stretched beyond their limits, occasionally something will be forgotten and so it's okay to chase them. Utilise the different switchboard options; if it's a referral query, go directly to the secretaries as it'll save you days/weeks compared to leaving messages with reception. Don't forget you can email if suitable, although this is usually slower as it's considered less priority. Also don't forget you can speak to your pharmacist for certain medical advice and in many places they're allowing face to face chats again now. From my experience, Crown Heights holds the highest number of competent & good doctors. Everywhere will have some bad eggs & it's just about learning who's good & sticking with them - some doctors may have better knowledge on some conditions than others, so experiences per person may vary. Crown Heights allows you to request a specific doctor & depending on the urgency, 90% of the time they will give you them, especially if you have good reason, such as requesting a female doctor for women's health issues (something I usually recommend). We're lucky that at Crown Heights you can request a change of GP or doctor also - at other practices this gets denied. Let's say you see someone regarding a problem and they are dismissive and rude to you, don't give up, if the situation calls for it, ask for another appointment with someone else. Crown Heights are also a lot more open about giving you access to your own data compared to other practices, which suggests they're more honest/trustworthy, compared to other practices which lie incessantly. They're reliable and reasonable with medication requests - I've never had any issues here. They also finally sorted out their phone hold capacity.”