Attleborough Surgeries

Feedback

• Attleborough Surgeries are a joke.

  2

  Submitted by Anonymous 24th July 2022

  Cannot get an appointment online or through phone. If you're lucky enough to get an appointment, you're met by incompetent doctors who don't take you seriously and can't seem to correctly diagnose anything. They have completely failed me on every problem I have had. Dr Domek is the only competent Dr at the surgery and he actually helps his patients as much as he can.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to read your review and comments. Unfortunately we are limited in being able to respond without any specific details in which to investigate your concerns. If you would like to contact the Practice to detail your concerns more fully, we would be happy to investigate this further.

• Now a former patient

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  Submitted by Anonymous 23rd July 2022

  My Elderly Dad was a patient here changing pre pandemic. I often speak to surgeries through my own job yet I found them impossible to speak to or raise concerns. Always needing to check when called for a check up/vaccination which surgery he needed to attend. They appear to put surgery running first patients second. For example expecting B12 to be ordered and collected from one surgery so could be given at the other. Dad doesn't drive and Im not local. He was staying with his partner when he became ill and needed a visit. The surgery refused as too far but did provide a list of closer surgery's, none of these would visit him as not registered. We ended up calling a ambulance as walk in centre not a option as unable to move. He was taken in to hospital and sorted. Complaint made at time. He changed surgery and while not perfect much easier to contact. They have a message service and when iv needed to make contact they have phoned back and appropriate action taken. Throughout pandemic. The nurses I have met there have always been both lovely and professional. The doctors variable. Dads last GP there was fine. He changed as one allocated to him after his retired was arrogant and dismissive both to Dad and I.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback, which I note relates to the period pre-pandemic, which I assume was approximately 3 years ago. We have made many changes since this time and continually work to improve our services and communication with our patients.

• Impossible to get an appointment

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  Submitted by Anonymous 23rd July 2022

  The new system of having to email the surgery to request a call back to see if you need an appointment does not work. The doctor doesn’t always call and you cannot book an appointment by telephone. All covid restrictions have been lifted but it seems the doctors surgery don’t want any patients. It is impossible to get an appointment, instead being referred to the already overstretched 111 service.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for leaving feedback regarding accessing our services. We would like to reassure you that we continue to provide a significant amount of our appointments face to face, although we do also use our on-line arrangements alongside telephone and video appointments to communicate with patients and provide diagnosis and treatment. We have been operating an on-line system since pre-covid, which was introduced as a way to try and better manage our high and ever growing demand. Where a clinician deems it appropriate to see a patient face to face, an appointment will be offered. We have seen a 100% increase in our service demand since the pandemic and in order to continue to provide access and a safe service to our patients it has been necessary to change the way that we consult and provide care. We are sorry to learn of the frustrations that you have experienced when trying to book an appointment with us.

• Pleade can I SEE a doctor!?

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  Submitted by Patricia 21st July 2022

  I have no complaint regarding how I've been spoken to or treated in that way. However, I just dont feel treated properly, medically speaking, over the phone. How can a correct diagnosis be made iver the phone or by sending photos? Even when I have been seen it's never been by a doctor. I want to see a fully qualified doctor!!

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback. Due to the introduction of the nationally driven programme of on-line access to primary care services and the significant increases in our patient demand, it has become necessary for many Practices, including Attleborough Surgeries,. to change the way we review and consult with patients. I would like to reassure you that all of our GPs continue to see many patients face to face and that we are pleased to also employ a number of excellent and very experienced Advanced Care Practitioners, all of whom continue to see many patients face to face where needed. This mix in staff is also to ensure that we have sufficient clinical capacity to safely manage the needs of our patients. There is a national shortage of GPs, with there being over 1,500 less full time GPs in post in 2020 compared to 2015. We therefore work hard to ensure that clinical need is met by the most appropriate clinician, which does not always require a qualified GP. I hope this response has helped you to understand better how we deliver care to our patients and why.

• Delays in appointments

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  Submitted by Anonymous 21st July 2022

  Expecting a telephone contact requested four days ago Called today to be told unable to fulfil Will receive a call at earliest early next week This is a pain related issue and in my book not acceptable to leave over a week This is not the first time that the service had been postponed

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback and highlighting your concerns regarding not receiving contact from the Practice at a time when you were expecting this. It is unusual that a call would be cancelled by the Practice without good reason, which may have been as a result of unplanned sickness; unfortunately as covid rates have remained circulating in our community, we have had escalating rates of sickness as a result of covid positive staff, which following Government guidelines, can result in absence for up to 10 days per staff member. As a primary care provider we manage both acute and more routine health issues. When demand is very high, we do have to assess patient risk and prioritise those in highest need and this can unfortunately result in delays in care provision for less urgent health matters. We are sorry to read of your frustration in the delays in accessing our services against your expectations but thank you for your feedback.

• Uncaring, stressed responses

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  Submitted by Anonymous 21st July 2022

  They are over stretched now the area has grown and their uncaring responses are probably a reflection. They don’t even help you manage your own health, go on hols leaving their mess/missed items to the poor nurses.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Since making our services available to on-line access, which is in line with the Governments direction of travel for primary care services, we have seen a 100% increase in demand from our patients. This has led to us needing to find different ways to consult, support, advise and treat our patients. We are sorry that you feel that your contact with us has not been positive, but I would like to assert that our teams work very hard and are extremely dedicated to providing high levels of care to our patients. If you have concerns that you would like to discuss further, we would be happy to hear from you directly in order to do this.

• Lack of face to face appointments

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  Submitted by Anonymous 20th July 2022

  You can very rarely get an appointment on the online booking form, when you ring never any appointments! Far too long to wait for an appointment when you can finally get one! GP refused to see me face to face to physically see my symptoms, just sent me a referral to hospital who then sent it back as GP hadnt seen me and hadnt fulfilled her part of the referral!!

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback. I would like to reassure you that the Practice continues to offer a significant proportion of our appointments face to face across all of our clinical staff. I am sorry that you have had difficulty in being able to access a face to face appointment. The Practice now communicates with our patients in a number of different ways, using on-line messaging, video, telephone and face to face appointments. Our clinical team determine the most suitable way to communicate with a patient after a review of the health issues that have been raised. We would be happy to investigate your concerns further if you would like to make contact with the Practice directly.

• Poor Admin and Poor Communication.

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  Submitted by Anonymous 20th July 2022

  I sent a letter informing them when I was unavailable yet they ignored it and sent me a text giving me an appointment in the period when I told them I was away. It would have been very helpful if I could have texted back to say I was unavailable but you can't text back. Now possibly they will put me on a list as I didn't attend. I was sent the text when I was away from home, the appointment was for 8.30 and the surgery was closed while I was away, they open doors at 8.30. still unable to inform them I couldn't attend. I have also sent them another letter and an email about a severe rash. I added Photos but still no response or appointment to see a Doctor or nurse. I have had this problem between 4/6 months but I have held off ,as they have been so busy but it is spreading and very itchy and very distressing in the heat . It is near impossible to phone in the morning, I have been in a queue for 40 minutes only to be cut off when I was number 2 in the queue. They are actually making it more difficult to communicate with them. I've had ongoing issues with getting all my prescription items at the same time, same issues month after month which causes distress and nothing is done to resolve issues raised, often having to go to and from the chemist to the surgery multiple times to get prescription sent to chemist. I've ordered on line for the last 2 months bypassing the chemist/surgery, all has been well so far.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to learn of the frustrations you have had when contacting the surgery. Through our website www.attleboroughsurgeries.com you can access the surgery on-line from early morning and through the day. We do sometimes need to turn some of our forms off when we reach capacity, but the forms to let us know that you need to cancel an appointment or request test results, etc. remain open. We staff our phone lines every day but demand at certain times in the day can be very high which unfortunately leads to delays in our phone queue. Regarding the other issues that you have raised, unfortunately we are unable to respond to these matters without further details. We do however welcome your feedback.

• Shocking service

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  Submitted by Tony Watling 20th July 2022

  If this surgery was a business it would be bankrupt by now! The latest episode was after using the dreadful website trying to get an appointment I had to fill in a form after 3 days a GP called and left a message saying he would message me with what could be done that was Saturday, to date nothing has been sent. If I could give you zero stars I would have! Why if you have problems has the management or GPS faced the people of Attlebough to explain why you can't do the basic tasks you are paid for

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to read that you have been unhappy with the service received when contacting us with your health problem. Unfortunately we are unable to respond to the concerns that you have raised without having further details to investigate regarding your care. We are always happy to investigate issues that are brought to our attention and if you would like to contact the Practice to provide further details we will be happy to investigate your concerns this further.

• Worrying

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  Submitted by Anonymous 20th July 2022

  I had been having abdominal issues and had a telephone appointment with Dr 1. This was my first cause for concern as I thought a physical examination would have been warranted. The subsequent blood tests showed cause for concern and Dr 2 left a message on my answerphone asking me to contact the surgery about the blood test results as I was away for a few days. I am now very concerned. I sent a message asking for a Dr to contact me re blood test results. No reply. I phoned and waited 40 mins to get through to speak to someone. The receptionist told me that the blood test had shown an anomaly but not to worry as Dr1 had referred me to the N and N for a scan. I was told what the scan was for which was nothing to do with my abdominal problems. The scan was a repeat of one I had had four years earlier which had resulted in surgery. I asked to speak with any Dr asap. The earliest telephone appointment was two days later. When Dr3 phoned they said the were confused as to why I didn’t want the scan. The whole situation was a shambles. Dr 3 sorted everything out and reassured me re the blood test but nothing has been followed up about my original problem. My issues are these: It is almost impossible to speak to anyone on the telephone to make appointments, ask for test results, sort out queries etc There is no continuity of care. Some issues need a face to face consultation. (I expected to be physically checked for abdominal issues and my general health) Without continuity of care, Drs are not aware of previous medical history which can be dangerous. Furthermore when I am feeling unwell and concerned, it is not helpful to have to struggle to get the help I need. Having a telephone consultation is less than satisfactory, but having to wait in all day as no time is given is very stressful. It is very frustrating to be unable to leave a message during out of hours. There should be a better system for reporting the results of tests whether they are clear or not.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for leaving your review on Healthwatch. However, we are unable to comment on the issues you have raised without understanding the pathway of care that was followed in response to the details that you shared with us regarding your health issue. We always encourage patients to contact the surgery directly with areas of personal complaint in order that we can review the details with the clinicians involved. If you would like to contact the Practice to discuss this further, we would be happy to hear from you.