The Doctors Fred Thomas (Fred Thomas Health, Takapuna)

The most shocking experience with Alister Balwick (GP). Please avoid this doctor at all costs, for your own sake

Poor communication, waited 5 hours for a prescription to be emailed to my pharmacy, COVID anti viral medication. Very poor service

Have been going here for around 7 years. Dr Upeksha Settinyake is lovely but also extremely busy.
The new doctor Louise is great! So friendly!
The receptionists have always been lovely to me. The extra $0.50 charge over southern cross is a pain. They should lower the fees to $65 for an adult.
They are open on a saturday which is great and there is lots of parking, a pharmacy, cafe and radiology clinic too.

I have been a client of this practice for 35years. My doctor retried I was given another doctor and that one suddenly left. I was never asked who I wanted as my next doctor but got told a name and that the person I have seen and my preferred doctor was not accepting new patients. I would say that the practice has grown too big is not client focused.
I also write this review on behalf of my 93 yr old mother the treatment the doctor gave her was awful.
I am very disappointed and will find another GP.
If I could leave no stars I would

Recently requested 3 months repeat prescription. When i visited the pharmacy i was presented with medication only for 14 days. No communication from the medical team or GP whatsoever why my request for 3 months medication was not completed. An invoice for unprovided services was emailed to me. A week later i made a new request for 3 months medication and that request was declined. Seriously considering changing the doctors. Extremly poor communication and incompetent staff.

I made an appointment for a possible ear infection, I had been awake 30 minutes prior to the appointment with my phone sound on, I get a voice-mail 8 minutes after I am supposed to receive the call, I call reception to say there was a mistake (this was right away within the 15 minutes I am supposed to get for my appointment) but the doctor took this as a missed call and moved on to another patient so I asked to be forwarded to the nurse, but they weren't available and will call back anytime between the morning and the end of the day which isn't helpful as I do have other appointments and a job.
Very disappointed in this experience, will likely be moving doctors soon because this is not the first time something like this has happened.

Lovely team of GPs but unfortunately the reception staff who work here are the rudest and most incompetent I’ve ever come across.

If you want a doctors practice where you see a regular doctor, are respected by reception and your doctor, see your doctor on time, at the start of your appointment, and pay less than $65, then I would recommend you go somewhere else.

Extremely hard working team of medical professionals and general staff. Always prompt response to messages left for nurses, and fast, efficient handling of prescription repeat requests. Thorough assessing of symptoms by phone when necessary. A very busy surgery carrying large patient loads, yet providing a wide range of services under challenging circumstances.

The doctors are great, however the reception staff and nurses are notorious for making mistakes!

Terrible service. Extremely rude support staff, admin and nurses. Have seen 2 Doctors there, one was wonderful and the other cold and dismissive. Wait times are really long and trying to get a repeat prescription is an ordeal. This is by far the worst GP practice I have ever been enrolled with. I will be enrolling elsewhere and do not recommend this practice to anyone.

Made appointment to see a specific doctor and without consulting with me booked me with another doctor. On arrival I was informed Dr? Was away sick and I had to go to the Hauraki clinic where another appointment was made for me. Not happy. Transferred my records out of that place.
Also made appointment for an ailment my mother was suffering with and the idiot Dr told her it would get better by itself. Really! The condition got worse. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Uncaring and have no interest in the patient's best interests. Youre a number only.

Can the rating go -5? Don't even deserve 1 star. My mums International flight covid test only needed the result and date of the test. Yet, you wrote down wrong DOB and didnt even bother writing date of the test.did you do this on purpose so my mum can miss her flight? What is 1+1? I doubt you can get it right.

1) Made a booking only to arrive and be told there was no booking and nothing could be done.
2) Made an appointment my partner and I to both have a hooping cough shot as she was pregnant. Arrived and was told only one person was booked.
3) Clearly set up to prioritise money and profit over service.
4) Called in. They answer saying, would you mind holding please and then hang up on you.
5) Receptionist argued with me about getting a repeat prescription for my blood pressure pills which I have been on for over 10 years stating I had to see the doctor and book an appointment. Never had an issue until I came here.

Very unprofessional and very poor service.numerous issues. From screaming @ my pregnant wife, rude and inconsidered doctor. Gave wrong medication. Made me wait 40min past my appointment time with a sick baby in the car. Made an appointment a week in advance then on the day was told sorry doctor is unavailable and can only see him on another say. They can't help me eith my sick baby.

One of the docs here told me they couldn't be bothered to help treat my chronic illness. When I told them the wait time for a paid specialist in my condition is multiple years long they just shrugged it off. Drinking coffee and not taking my notes.
Dr Lia was the best though until she left. She is 10/10
Hardly any other knowledge of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome here. Yes it occurs 1/5000 people but you should at least try to learn.

Pathetic service. I've been coming to this doctor my whole life and the service remains terrible, trying to get a repeat prescription is a huge mission and takes far longer than they say it will.

Unsure of why I still come here since the building was built. They have never once been vaguely on time. Typical waits of 20-30 minutes waiting every time to an appointment. Very often first thing in the morning. Don't come here if you value your time. Plenty of other local alternatives that understand the value of peoples time. Try Milford doctors. They are happy NOT to see you for repeat prescriptions. How awesome and time and money saving is that!

Ive been a patient of this place for over 10 plus years starting back in Milford, But Ive had enough of the Rude Surly Staff at reception, Always stressed and very short with you. And looking at other comments Im not alone. You would think management would read these comments and see these issues and address them. Looking for a new doctor in the new year!

Tl;dr A receptionist here is defensive and incompetent, would give zero stars if possible

The nurse was helpful in admitting a massive screw up, getting us a refund and following up by sending out a PCR Covid-19 test with Urgency.

But we only figured this out after continually asking the receptionist for the results. Initially we were told to "return home and call at 11AM"
After explaining that wouldn't work and asking if there was some way to contact the lab, we were met with a lot of defensive responses and dodging of responsibility.
Not to mention a lot of errors and typos made by her on my medical file causing even further frustrations.

Only after all that we were assigned a nurse to assist us. It turned out the swab hadn't even been sent to the lab.

After asking the receptionist to forward or CC the results to my friend in case I had no access to internet or printers we were met with unhelpfulness and unwillingness to assist.

Dreadful experience, not something you want to have hours before you have to leave for your flight, or worse, be forced to rebook a flight.

I highly recommend going elsewhere lest you might be told off despite not having done anything wrong.