Swedish Primary Care - West Seattle

Chelsea Joyce

I can't believe the level of service (or lack thereof) at this office. My husband and I made appointments with the same doctor, Dr. Simmons, to establish care and have physicals, as neither of us had a PCP at the time and our toddler goes to West Seattle Swedish Pediatrics (who we love). We made appointments in August or September that weren't until November. When we finally did get in for our "physicals", she spent less than 20 minutes with each of us, gave me zero help or next steps for some chronic pain I have, and sent us for blood panels and that was that. She made sure to mention on our way out that she would now be our PCP and could be a family doctor for our daughter as well, and that should we need refills on any prescriptions (like my SSRI for post-partum depression) we should now go through her and to message her through MyChart. Since November (it is now June), I have not gotten a reply from Dr. Simmons herself a single time. 3 messages I've sent through MyChart for urgent matters like refills or illness have gone COMPLETELY unanswered. No nurse response, no callback, nothing. Twice I have requested a refill of my SSRI through her office by phone AND MyChart and gotten NOTHING. I've had to reach out to my post-partum psychiatrist through Swedish First Hill both times for refills that should be handled by my PCP now. When I've called the office and brought up how I message without responses, the front desk acts like that is shocking, but reading through these other reviews, it doesn't seem like it would be. But the real cherry on all of this terrible service and bedside manner is the message I got in MyChart today, which I assumed would be a 3 week late response to my request for a refill, but instead was her nurse telling me about the "virtual cooking lesson" Dr. Simmons will be hosting. Saying there are only 6 spots, and if we choose to participate, she will teach us to make a healthy stir fry. It even says: "Billing: Same charges as a regular office visit or follow up for chronic or metabolic condition - so depending on your insurance there may or may not be a co-pay for the visit." So this doctor wants to get 6 insurance charges for what should be one typical office visit time, to teach people to stir fry vegetables. Something she magically has time for when she doesn't have time to refill her patients prescriptions. Absolutely despicable. Go literally ANYWHERE else.

Mindy Jones

I had an amazing doctor at Ballard primary care. She has since left medicine. My doctor before her at Minor and James was also incredible, but she relocated. I really wanted to find a good local doctor, unfortunately that appears to be impossible at this Swedish location. I have seen two different doctors and interacted with at least 6 support staff. The first doctor was okay, but not a great fit, so I won't mention her here. However, Dr. Reena Ramakrishnan, the doctor I saw on my second visit, was hands down the worst doctor l have ever seen. I have had some terrible experiences with medical providers in the past, but this was by far the worst. She was rude, dehumanizing, contradicted what specialists have told me to do when as a primary physician she is unqualified to do so, gave outdated and inaccurate medical advice, and in the list goes on. She did not treat me as a whole human being, she didn't even treat me as a human being, and in conjunction with poor and just inaccurate medical advice and her refusal to look at my medical record, I don't think I will come back. In addition to this horrifying experience, when trying to make an appointment, those who answer the phones are curt and rude. Additionally, I witnessed a receptionist being overtly racist to an Asian American man, which I did report, but it certainly does not bulster my confidence. Not every support staff is terrible, but when you mix in some casual racism, dehumanization, poor medical care, and rude schedulers, it's clear this is not a great place to find good care.

Sybil Davis

I drove to my dermatologist at Swedish West Seattle Mon. 1/31/22. They’d moved without alerting me when I made the appointment. I quickly drove the several blocks to the new location. The underground parking was not clearly marked re: parking for Swedish. I searched and found the right elevator, entered and pushed #3 the door closed, elevator was motionless. I pushed another floor. No movement. I pushed “door open”. It did not open. No buttons responded. I pushed the alarm button–then ALL buttons. A computer voice loudly announced“ elevator 5!” and finally the door opened. Across the dark parking area was another elevator marked QFC. Fortunately another person was waiting and after several minutes waiting we entered. Exiting QFC and walking around the building I found the Swedish entryway. They refused to see me, I was too late. I will not return.

Julie Brigham

I’m firing this office. Everyone is really nice, but getting prescriptions filled in a timely fashion or getting anyone to respond within a week or even two is incredibly difficult. When you are on SSRIs, this means that you have to be extremely organized and strategic so as not to run out and go through awful withdrawals every time you need a refill. I would absolutely not recommend this office.