Attleborough Surgeries

Feedback

• Shocking service

  1

  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

  2

  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.

• Misdiagnosis

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th July 2022

  I experience pain in my kidney area in January and filled in the online form on the website, as I have had a kidney stone previously I was concerned that this pain was a recurrence of that. I received a call from a clinician and was told over the phone that it couldn’t be a kidney problem and I had strained a muscle. I was prescribed anti inflammatory drugs for two weeks and told it would solve the problem, which it didn’t. I then emailed again and was told to attend the surgery to have a blood test and take a urine sample. I was again told it was not a kidney problem but was given antibiotics as my white cell count was high. This also didn’t solve the problem. I eventually was sent for scans (April) as I was still in pain. I am now on a waiting list for an operation (2 years) as the diagnosis was kidney related. Had I been initially examined it would have been obvious that this was not a muscle problem.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for the feedback you have given regarding your care and diagnosis. We would be very happy to investigate this matter further and you are encouraged to contact the Practice directly to provide further details in order that we can review the concerns that you have raised and for us to be able to speak to you directly regarding this matter.

• Happy with service family perspective

  4

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th July 2022

  We recently moved to the area during COVID & are a young family of 4. I find the online system simple to use/explain symptoms & always get efficient communication back speaking to the necessary professional. Recently the system was changed to only being able to send messages in opening hours (due to demand I suspect) making it a little more frustrating when you work in the week. I understand this is still an improvement on neighbouring surgeries who have a 2 hour window! For a young family, the service we have received has been very good. We had a very understanding & caring response when our baby demonstrated intolerance symptoms from a GP late on Xmas eve via telephone call. Perhaps face to face opportunities have been lacking/last resort? The nursing service often has more availability for appointments & all nurses have been professional & caring during interventions. On 2 occasions, I’ve wondered whether a nurse appointment has been a substitute to a GP however likely due to demand? Overall, I would recommend this surgery to other families.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for this lovely review and for your recommendation of our Practice. The Practice employs a mixed skill mix including very experienced Advanced Care Practitioners (paramedic/nurse background who have undergone Masters level extended training) as well as GPs to support diagnosis and treatment arrangements. Through our triage arrangements we aim to ensure that a patients health issue is appropriately matched to the clinician that the patient is booked with. However, our non-GP clinicians always have access to and support from our doctors on site, should a second review or different assessment become apparent. Thank you once again for taking the time to share you positive comments.

• Atrocious surgery

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th July 2022

  My 4 week old granddaughter almost died as a direct result of the total apathy from this surgery. We ended up in paediatric crash after being told it was just nappy rash and to go home! Temp wasn’t checked, no gloves were worn by Gp to check nappy area, total lack of interest. It was late onset Strep… We moved surgeries and I would never use this practice again. Shouldn’t be allowed to have the rights to both surgeries. We urgently need another practice in Attleborough to give residents an actual choice and not just a wing and a prayer option of using these people.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for leaving your review regarding your concerns relating to the clinical care provided for your granddaughter. This is a circumstance in which we would need further patient details in order to investigate the serious concerns that you have raised and to respond to you on the pathway of care and the decisions that were taken at the time of examination. If you would like to contact the surgery directly and provide further details we would be very happy to investigate this matter and discuss this with you further.

• Carry on as well as you can.

  4

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th July 2022

  I have always been helped quickly and usually efficiently. What I like less is, that you can have another GP than your own. The people, usually ladies, at reception are polite and helpful. It are the waiting lists in other places, I urgently need an epidural, that bother me the most.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback and sharing the good experience that you have had with our services, including your interaction with our reception team. We are sorry that you continue to have to wait for an epidural, which has come about as a result of many months of redirected work within the hospital as a result of covid infection and them needing to dedicate significant resources to critical patient management. While I completely understand your frustration, I think it is important that we remember how hard our NHS colleagues worked when we needed them most. Unfortunately hospital waiting times are outside of our control and I am aware that plans are being developed in order to reduce these, but they remain a national problem.

• Could be better

  4

  Submitted by Anonymous 19th July 2022

  Can't get face to face appt without begging and explaining everything in minute details to the receptionist. You asked to send photo of anything physical, bit hard to get clear picture especially if live alone. Reviews of prescriptions massively behind. The website closes very quickly to leave any messages. Understand staffing is main issue. There are only couple excellent doctors in Attleborough who actually care and have time for you. Prescriptions between doctors and chemist often messed up and blame each other. Individual staff are ok but they managers need to understand this town is becoming huge and facilities can't cope.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback, which is always appreciated. We are sorry that you have found accessing a face to face appointment difficult and we would like to reassure you that the Practice continues to offer a vast amount of face to face appointments across all of our clinical staff including GPs. These are offered alongside using our on-line system, which was introduced to enable us to manage a higher demand, in a safe way, and is in line with the national requirements to provide on-line access to patients. Unfortunately due to a significant increase in demand it is necessary to manage patients health issues in a broader way, including using the facility to send photos in for review where this is deemed clinically appropriate. We understand that this is a different approach to the more traditional model of care, but it does enable our clinical teams to manage a higher number of patients each day, which has become essential as demand has increased. The Practice has been suffering recently along with the rest of our community with covid infection rates within our staff and this has impacted on all services, including our dispensary team. The team continue to work to a 2 day turnaround, which is met the majority of time, but unfortunately we are also managing a large upsurge in workload as a result of the Chemists deciding last month to withdraw managing the repeat medication requirements of the patients that they serve and passing this work to the Practice. We are sorry that we have not met your expectations and for the frustrations you have and we continue to work hard to provide a good level of service to the patients that we serve.

• Health check appointment

  5

  Submitted by CB 14th July 2022

  Contacted by Surgery that routine review needed. Easily booked appointment at convenient time (ahead but no urgency and suited me). Greeted by friendly, knowledgeable receptionist. Medication query sorted quickly, again by friendly staff. Appointment was on time and check carried out efficiently and in courteous, respectful manner. Advised there would be prescription raised and it arrived via Pharmacy2U (my preferred prescription method - which incidentally I recommend wholeheartedly andI guess helps the Surgery Dispensary - a few days later. All in all a great experience of healthcare. Thank you

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for this lovely review. Its great to read how easy you found the booking for your NHS Health check appointment and how seamless the process was from booking to completion of the review. Thank you for taking the time to leave this feedback, which is really appreciated by the Surgery and our Practice staff.

• A shambles of an administrative service

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 10th June 2022

  I have now lost count of the number of times we have experienced errors with booking our appointments. Between my partner, myself and our 2-year old daughter, we have been turned away because of clerical errors just too many times! As if it wasn't hard enough to get an appointment - you call up and wait 20 mins to speak to someone who is ultimately rude, and says they have no available appointments. Or you try to go through the booking system online to get given an appointment you can't attend.... and then can't rearrange by calling someone bacK! Ultimately if it's just too hard to get to see a doctor/nurse, you just give up and this is ultimately going to cost lives. We are already seeing how delays over COVID has led to late diagnoses across the country, which is equating to rather serious implications. I completely understand that we are all just doing what we can with what we have, but is this really the best they can do - honestly? I'd write a compliant to the surgery itself, but a quick investigation informs me I have to send it in the post. They have an online booking system, which they strongly urge everyone to use, but can't receive an online complaint or even have an email? Come on, it's almost like they are purposely trying to make it difficult to dissuade people from bothering. Now, on the flipside the medical staff are really great (when you get to see them). The team has been utterly amazing with our little one and we thank them for that. But surely something can be done to improve the quality of their admin to avoid these needless errors - they waste everyone's time especially the doctors who don't have enough time to see people as it is! There is a dire need to spend some more effort training the reception staff to understand their processes.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to read about the frustrations you have experienced when trying to access our services. We are always happy to investigate concerns and issues raised by our patients, so please do get in contact directly with the Practice with your details in order that we can review your issues further. There are a number of ways in which you can provide feedback or raise a complaint with the Practice, both in writing to the Surgery, submitting details through our on-line website system; click the tile for \'Practice Information\' and use the \'contact the practice\' form or you can email a complaint to r.reception@nhs.net. We are always sorry to hear when we have not met patient expectations. We are an extremely busy Practice and our staff all work hard to support our patients and we are keen to get it right. Thank you for your very kind feedback regarding the clinical staff who have supported you and your family with their health matters.

• Station Rd Surgery-Fantastic

  5

  Submitted by Louise A-D 18th May 2022

  I have a lot of medical issues that have always been dealt with promptly & professionally at Station Rd Surgery. In the last 2yrs I have had emergency spine surgery, spinal nerve injections, nerve damage to right leg, broken hip (right) hip replacement, there’s more but I won’t bore you. I have always been given amazing care & compassion by my Gp, who always goes above & beyond to explain everything thoroughly & that I do actually understand. I have also had treatment from the practice nurses at Queens Square surgery, who are also very compassionate & caring when giving treatment. The pharmacy team at Station Rd have gone above & beyond to make sure I have the correct medication when needed, even with short notice. I have no complaints about the surgery, only praise. I feel it is very rare these days to find a Gp that will actually take time to listen. I highly recommend both surgeries from personal experience. 10/10 Thankyou

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for this great feedback and wonderful review. I think that you have covered almost every department in your praise and feedback ! and I will ensure that our teams receive details of the compliments you have shared, which is always a great boost to morale.