Cleevelands Medical Centre - Cheltenham

Peter W.

I am writing to express my significant concern about the difficulty in securing a GP appointment at Cleevelands Medical Centre.

A suggested 'safe limit' for a full-time equivalent GP in the UK is 1,600 appointments 3 months. According to figures from May-July 2025, Cleevelands Medical Centre operated at a rate of 943 (over the 3 month period). That is 16 appointments per day per full-time equivalent GP.....

This considerable gap may help explain the persistent access issues that I and other patients are experiencing.

On a personal note, I have found it nearly impossible to book a timely appointment. The only successful method I have found is to call NHS 111, describe my symptoms, and explain the booking difficulties at the practice. On these occasions, NHS 111 has been able to arrange an appointment for me with an alternative GP, annoyingly based in Gloucester so it takes an hour to get there and back.

This situation is particularly perplexing because my direct observations of the surgery do not suggest it is overwhelmed with in-person visitors. On the rare occasions I attend the practice, or when I visit the adjacent pharmacy (1-2 times per month), the surgery consistently appears empty and the reception desk is often unstaffed. This raises questions about where clinical capacity is being directed, especially with the rise of private, app-based GP services.

I hope this feedback is useful in reviewing the current appointment system to improve patient access.

Liz A.

So far underwhelming. New patient. Was on the phone trying to book my first appointment for 30mins as the online booking system wasn’t working for me. Arrived at the surgery for appointment- which was 2 weeks later - couldn’t get one sooner. Car parking fine. Windows filthy. Touch booking system didn’t work- assume again because I am a new patient. Apparently no one would be at reception until 20 mins after appointment time- starting at 9am. Couldn’t use my mobile as signal not strong enough - thought I’d ring the surgery - despite being on the premises. Pressed the emergency button - which I felt uncomfortable about. Someone came and booked me in - although didn’t do it at reception - they had to walk off and walk back to confirm- very inefficient, and told me that the appointment was upstairs - no signage to indicate there was even a surgery upstairs. No new information for new patients at all. Still waiting to see doctor some 15 mins later. Hope the medical care is better than the surgery experience to date.

tony H.

On holiday. Called in because my wife wasn't well and needed an appointment. Receptionist told us we needed to ring and quoted some system, like we, as visitors, would know?! Asked for the phone number, but she didn't know it! Had the farce of having to go outside and telephone the surgery inside. After 20 minutes spoke to someone who said there was a lot of sickness at the surgery, ( funny, Stoke Road surgery told me the same there, and referred us to you!) and was told they couldn't offer a same day appointment. I said it doesn't have to be same day, but again was refused an appointment. Loved you shiny, clean centre with it's spacious, and empty, waiting area. Lovely photo on the wall of all the staff. Pity we never got to meet any of them. If only there had been a photo shoot when we were there!

Shannon 1.

So disappointing…they truly do need to manage the lines better. Phoned in on the dot at 8am for my daughter who is newly registered and cannot access online help…phone got cut off after 15 minutes…called back and still no answer (9:01am).

I do get that it’s busy…but my goodness. 3sick children, 1 with her ear in a lot of pain that she’s crying. Might just pop to the hospital at this point.

Louise N.

I contacted the surgery about 8 weeks ago through anima. (I was very nervous about using it but have found it to be very efficient.) I managed to get an appointment the next day with Dr Nugent. She did an examination that day and arranged for a scan that I had the following week. I also got to see a consultant within two weeks of the first appointment with Dr Nugent. I couldn't have dreamt of a more efficient service. Everything was okay and the surgery has followed up with a course of action. Very impressed and a positive experience. Thank you

SolitaryTir

Probably the worst surgery. After the merger of the two surgery’s there was a brief period of better availability of appointments but this quickly fell by the way side.

Over reliance of automation and non human admin services have taken away the ability of the practice to adequately support patients. Doctors who refuse to see a patient in person or read patient notes even when prompted led to the need for repeated appointments to get even close to an acceptable outcome.

Have also been welcomed by rude receptionist who refuse to help in favour of pushing to online systems which are intermittently capable, while one receptionist incorrectly informed me of results of a test rather than accepting my request for an appointment with a trained professional.

Currently the practice is advertising it is short staffed and therefore we can expect a worse service again with a lack of suitable infrastructure and skilled persons in cleeve to mitigate such poor service.

All in think twice before using this surgery.

John L.

After 2 days trying to get an appointment with anybody here, I totally agree that Anima is not fit for purpose.. thank you for your reply which helps to prove my comment, after re installing the Anima app on 2 mobile phones, we used Anima to try to get an appointment, after filling in all the questions we were directed to Cheltenham General Hospital for a doctor appointment, and as the Anima records show we hadn't contacted helps to prove how useless it is

John B.

Lots of positives e.g. facilities and vaccination process, however many negatives, specifically linked to the booking process. I could go into endless detail ( and I have contacted the practice manager regarding my concerns) As a simple example, if unable to accept an offered consultation time, there is no option to request an alternative. One has to return to the beginning of the Anima process. The Anima process is clunky and appears not to have been widely tested, for customer experience. As another example of the system not functioning in a customer friendly way, I was offered a "two week window" to book an appointment in reality this was 4 days as there were no slots in the first week. Finally I was not happy with the response from the practice manager which was defending the status quo and not open to suggestions for improvement.