To my surprise, VA clinics apparently act as independent clinics, not as shared resources under the VA. Regardless of my prior acceptance into VA medical, and service at another VA clinic, I was required to appear in person to fill out 4 pages of forms to register to be seen in this clinic. I was assured at the time (a Friday morning), that I would be contacted on Monday about my need for an appointment regarding my malfunctioning VA-provided hearing aids.After days of waiting, I called to schedule an appointment. (It turns out that all calls to them are answered by the Los Angeles regional office who transfer you to the appropriate SLO department.) After a month and three left messages, I still have not heard back from them. The LA regional operator now tells me they never answer their phones, not even the general clinic number. Every call goes to voicemail. That would not be so bad if they would respond to those messages.

Worst VA experience ever. They are horrible at communicating and they treat you as if they’re doing you a favor. Enroll at Santa Maria or just drive to LA or Long Beach or Palo Alto VA. It’s a shame that the local VA is trash and no one seems to care.

I have been coming to the VA clinic for six years. The times have changed and the resources have not kept pace with the demand. The fact is that the US Congress/Senate appropriate money to many other worthless projects which then undermines the healthcare system both VA and Medicare and leave the providers MD,RN,LVN,MSA ancillary staff etc. to do more with less. The staff at the VA SLO-CBOC are outstanding individuals and practitioners of the highest caliper. The VA system as a whole is the largest health care provider system in the USA, 300,000+ employees 1250+ facilities, 240 billion dollar budget. Overall the VA is an outstanding provider for the past 80 years. I retired from the military after 26 years and now receive my care at the vary clinic that fellow Veterans are slandering. The system in VA-WLA maybe slow or maybe overburdened but to my knowledge from direct access to care, the care given is always from dedicated individuals, sound, capable and full of heart/compassion period. Remember after 14 years of “war” and 1.8 million more eligible Veterans Congress/Senate did not send 1.8 million more providers they just wrote a check and said figure it out. Thanks 😊

I have not had the experience of visiting the clinic in person. I have been trying to get established with a primary doctor after moving from PA, but there is no way directly contact the clinic! You need to get routed through the greater LA call center who can leave a message for your doctor. But when they call me back I am at work and miss the call, then when I go to return the message I go round and round! Very unefficent, and I need to get back surgery in 2 weeks and cant even get a receptionist on the phone to schedule me an appointment! Worst service Ive seen in amy VA clinic.

It just seems that nothing flows smoothly here and things are a big problem. For example, today I had an appointment at 3 pm and signed in and then sat and waited. After questioning the receptionist I was finally told me the doctor thought my appointment was tomorrow and might or might not be able to see me? So I’m supposed to wait around to see if she MIGHT see me?? I had the appointment right. So a total wasted trip!

As a medical provider, I want to say I’ve found my care here to be excellent. Yes, there’s a wait to be seen but we’ve all been in the military, you know the wait isn’t any shorter there. Free government run health care is never going to be high access care. It is impossible. Plan routine appointments around that fact. Staff is cheerful, helpful, and you can tell they are going above and beyond to give us the best care possible. I’ve even seen them take money out of their wallets to pay parking for those who complain about the parking fees. Maybe it’s me, having lived in DC, but I think parking is very reasonable across the street. The only complaint I have, and it’s not the fault of the clinic, is that our medications must be mailed to us which means the meds spend 5 days outside their safe storage temperatures. I can’t say enough good things about Dr Naik, Mr John, Dr Greco, and all of the admin, nursing, and lab staff. For those who find the phone system a problem, try the message system via myhealth.va.gov. That’s always worked well for me.

This has turned into the worst VA clinic that I have ever dealt with, and I have been to a lot of VA facilities throughout the country. I dont know whats going on with the management here, but whatever kind of management is running this place really isnt managing anything. At any time you call this clinic, you go through about 5 minutes of irrelevant information with absolutely no option to get a hold of anyone. Not even an option to be put on hold for an hour. Instead, after your irrelevant greeting the phone system goes straight to voicemail. And not a single voicemail that I have left out of perhaps 8 have gone answered. Not one. In the cases where someone has finally called me back after severe nagging through secure messages to the Santa Maria clinic, they only leave their main phone number where of course I cant get a hold of them again. To be fair, this is a long tradition that is practiced by many VA facilities throughout the country, where providing direct numbers to real people is guarded as secret; for what purpose I have no idea.As a person that has worked and lived in many places in the country, I can say this VA clinic is truly dismaying in its care for Veterans and unfortunately is another example to add to the statistic board of VA clinics that are failing Veterans. It wasnt always like this, but I can say that now that I have moved back to my hometown area, it has turned into this terrible excuse for a medical facility in the last 3 months that I have been back in the area.

Great only been there once treated very nicely

Same as these other reviews they just give you the run around. I have never gotten a call back and I rarely even get to talk to someone at the slo clinic. If theyre admin is this bad I dont think I trust these jokers with my medical care anyway. Truly disheartening to see, a lot of these vets cant handle this kind of red tape and wont even try to get help after seeing this kind of stuff. I hear Santa Maria is better Im going to check it out over there.

After a 3hr wait to be seen, the Nurse Practitioner (not a physician) told me that my strep throat was simply allergies. She would not listen to what I was saying and had her mind made up from the beginning. This is by far the worst VA facility I have ever been to.

I have never written a review online but felt this was necessary as I have been calling this clinic for 8 months and have never received a response. I then took the time to drive to the clinic to see if it was still there. It was in fact still there and I was able to schedule an appointment. The earliest appointment I could get was 2 months from the date I walked in. If your goal is to frustrate Veterans and have them stop using the VA you are doing a great job. Shame on you!

I was warned that the clinic was so much worse than Santa Maria that I should take the extra time and always go to SM; and unfortunately this is 100% true. My healthcare provider is great, but I have absolutely no way to pass a message to him. Unfortunately he was moved to the SLO clinic which has caused all the problems, I had literally none with Santa Maria. Like the other reviewer Ive tried the main (and only) line to get through and left message after message which the machine assured me would be returned. Nothing. Not one time. I need a medicine for which the prescription seems to not have been submitted. Ive left about 6 messages describing the importance of the situation and I have received no call back, nor has my prescription been renewed. Despite the somewhat desperate situation, this clinic provides no support. Terrible.

For sanity sake use the choice program, or Mission Act as its called now. This facility and the majority of the people that work here are down right negligent. Dr. Hutchinson cares more about riding his Harley than he does about accurately diagnosing mental health diseases. Dr. John has no clue what he is doing when it comes to prescribing medication, and will most likely make you worse. My primary care doctor, (not actually a doctor) Ms. P Naik called me the day of my appointment and had to reschedule. Told me she had family in town she was going to visit. Yeah screw you guys! Please if you value your health and sanity see an outside provider using the Mission Act.

This place is terrible...they misplace records and never call you back. They give you the runaround . Terrible way to treat our veterans.

This place is horrible just like all other vas wont answer your call wont return messages cant get a hold of anyone wont deliver your meds wont clear up their voicemail wont call you when you need to be notified the list goes on.

Very helpful staff