Aldborough Surgery

It is now 10 days after Silicon Practice, their cheap service provider, went into administration and this practice has done absolutely nothing to inform its patients, not even updated their telephone message. Their website is still offline. Most affected practices have taken immediate measures to ensure patient access online remains open, but not Aldborough. This practice has been a pain from the moment I joined just over a year ago. Even serious conditions remain undiagnosed and therefore untre ... ated, and any form of pain relief is actively discouraged. I feel that the staff are too afraid to offer patients the help they need because the senior doctor/partner is imposing his rules on other clinicians.

We joined this practice based on recommendations and reviews hoping that our care would be in capable hands. This review is entirely based on one person’s experiences.
I am disabled and suffer from several chronic conditions, causing excruciating pain and severe insomnia. Life is extremely challenging and exhausting and not worth living.
After working for the NHS, we moved to Norfolk hoping to enjoy a peaceful retirement. However, joining Aldborough turned out to be a huge mistake.
The r ... eceptionists are lovely and do their best to find you a suitable appointment. They have a better understanding of patients’ needs than the doctors do. From registrars to GP partner, not one of them has ever shown signs of empathy and it’s almost as if they’re not human. They don’t look at your history and the reasons why you requested help, but when you tell them, they completely invalidate your complaints. There is a reluctance to do basic physical examinations or arrange imaging. Promises of follow-up conversations are disregarded.
After every visit, I feel so humiliated and depressed that I usually burst into tears outside. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of showing my emotions in their presence. Doctors tend to label patients as “unbalanced” when they show too much emotion.
My respect and trust in GPs is at an all-time low. Going private is too expensive but unavoidable when GPs fail you in their duty of care.
We realised too late that their reputation is mainly based on their rural location. Locals will fiercely protect this practice because it is convenient and means that they don’t have to travel further afield for their care and prescriptions. I also feel that a certain complacency has set in based on positive reviews.
If you join, I recommend scrutinising every little detail in your records, including referrals. They repeatedly forgot to include essential information that could have life-threatening consequences if ignored. I hope this is helpful.

The whole attitude there is great. Everyone who works there has the same way of dealing with people - human. For anyone with mental health issues, that really helps. Recently I had my ears syringed at the surgery and the care that they took was so... careful! There was also humour from the nurse and the doctor.

Absolutely fine service. They were on time. The nurse was friendly and kind. The surgery is always excellent, the receptionists always lovely. We are so fortunate to have the drop in surgery. You can always get seen. They give you time, you don't feel rushed.

100% on everything! It's local, you can always get an appointment (in the morning or pre-booked), you get reminders, you can check records online.

Fantastic. The open surgery is brilliant. I had an appointment today. They go above and beyond here.

It's the best surgery I've been to. What is good is the kindness and the speed. They call you back within the hour if you have a problem.

Brilliant! It's such a good surgery (compared to others, so I've heard). If you know you need an advance appointment, you can get one but you can also rock up in the morning and wait. I suppose I would say they aren't always on time but that is no problem for me; five or ten minutes doesn't matter.

Brilliant. We used to be elsewhere and moved here. I like the drop in. It's nice they have WIFI. The building could be better signposted from the road. Luckily I know where it is anyway. They're so helpful. They're brilliant.

Amazing. Utterly amazing. I can always get an appointment. The doctors are really good. They give an accurate diagnosis.