St Stephens Health Centre - Ashford

Thamy J.

I finally got an appointment at St. Stephens Health Centre to see my GP Dr. Hodgkiss. All of the staff at Willesborough Medical Center have been talking highly of her. She deals with Women's health/issues predominantly.

When I met her, she greeted me with such a warm smile that I automatically felt comfortable and valued. She took her time listening to my medical needs and provided me with sound advice, recommendations, and next steps.

She asked me to lay on the table so that she can examine my abdominal area and was so gentle and ensured she was not hurting me. After the examination, she took her time in explaining the process moving forward in terms of blood work and referral to a specialist.

The health centre was immaculately clean amd the staff very welcoming and friendly. The wait time was minimal and the seating area was vast.

James

Diabolical.
Takes weeks to get an appointment, and that ends up being a 3 minute phone call anyway.
Randomly get booked in for appointments or missed phone calls but when queried they have no idea what for.
Recently got a prescription, went to the pharmacy to pick it up the next day as instructed, the GP hasn't even submitted the request.
Appointments cancelled without being informed.
Honestly, this practice is ran by incompetent people that don't care about the health of their patients. This is a dangerous practice and I wouldn't feel comfortable going to them with something more serious.
Kingsnorth practice has a much better service.

Laura

I attended this morning re mental health/suicidal thoughts for a 15 min appointment to just be told I would be sent a couple of links and reception had messed up and I needed to see a gp. I booked the appointment online and made the selection of a healthcare professional myself. I don't really understand why staff who aren't qualified in the right capacity are seeing patients. Will have to start process again

Emilia S.

I’ve been very pleased with the care which was provided to me here, booking system yes, kinda sucks, but in my opinion is a step up from the phone calling we had to do before. There was a handful of dates and times to choose from which was fab and some relatively soon. I came in roughly 5 mins prior to my appointment, checked in and I was seen ON THE DOT of the time booked. Never had that before!!! Amazing great. I walk in, voice my concerns, lay down the facts and boom, I got exactly what I wanted within 5 MINUTES. You may think it was rushed but it wasn’t, it was straight forward, the doctor heard my concern, and prescribed me a possible solution with the advise to review 3 months later. I always avoided coming to the GP because I hated how long winded it was before but this experience was a breath of fresh air. It’s great to see that they’ve got some doctors out there who don’t look like they’re just googling everything.

Steve L.

I moved to Ashford about 18 months ago, signing up with the St Stephen's walk surgery. What a mistake, the service is unbelievable bad. Looking for a new surgery. It's as if they're are not interested in the wellbeing of the patients, I understand the health service is bursting under the pressure, but come on, where is your duty of care.

Eat M. P. S. ?. M. P. S. F.

In the UK, since you’ve come to this country, you need to follow its rules. If you want to access benefits like free healthcare, don’t complain about the hassle or the waiting times. Of course, you can always go to a private hospital if you prefer. So, if you have a serious illness, you either wait, risk worsening conditions, or pay for private care. Don’t complain, because these aren’t decisions you get to make. Please understand that.

H R.

so far so good, there was a random case where they gave me wrong prescription dose but apart from that no complaints.

WAX B.

Went to my appointment 10 minutes late and they offered to book me in an hour time to see the nurse, I waited for as long as 2 hours without seeing the nurse, they kept saying I will be next patient to be called until I got angry and left.