Attleborough Surgeries

Feedback

• Happy with the doctors but it varies

  3

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 16th February 2022

  Really happy with the doctors. My friend has found them racist because my friend doesn't speak good English and they are rude to them about it. She didn't trust what was being said and took her child back for treatment and they were really ill. But I haven't found this myself. They've been quite good when I go to them with worries about the children. However there have been times when I've gone to the doctors and they've said 'she's fine' and then I've had to go to the hospital and she wasn't. But there's also been times when I've gone and they've said 'she's fine' and they were right and she just needed time to get better.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for leaving this review and your feedback. I\'m pleased to read that overall you have found our staff and services responsive to your needs. I am sorry to read that your friend has had difficulty in accessing our services due to a language issue. We would take all complaints of racism very seriously and we would welcome the opportunity to investigate this further if your friend would like to make contact with the Practice. We do work to the national guidelines for accessible information for our patients and I would encourage your friend to directly, or with support, ensure that she has clearly informed us of her needs as we have many resources available to us to ensure that she can access our services.

• Pharmacy opening hours

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 10th February 2022

  Was told via the receptionist on the phone the pharmacy opens between the hours 8am to 6 pm i arrived at 8 to be told they open at 8 :30 so I am now having to waste 30 minutes sitting in the car parks thanks to poorly trained receptionists . Thanks!

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to learn that you were provided with inaccurate information regarding our dispensary opening times. For your information and for future reference, details of our dispensary opening times are available on our website. We would like to apologise for the error in information that was given to you.

• Delay in releasing access to medical records

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  Submitted by Judith Richards 4th January 2022

  Both my husband and I applied to have our full medical records available on our NHSapp. This was poartly motivated by the consistent and repeating problems of getting appointments to see a GP., and accepting that some of our medical care would have to be done privately. The applications were sent in via the website before 1st Novemebr, and acknowledged by the surgery. Since then- two months!- and in spite of repeated requests, this has not been actioned. Could someone explain the reason for this delay- hopefully without using the "Covid excuse". Many thanks.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  I am sorry to read about the delay you have experienced when requesting access to your medical records. There are timeframes regarding Subject Access Requests that we work to, but there are some circumstances where a delay can occur. We would be very happy to investigate your specific circumstances and review why there has been a delay in your medical records being made available to you. If you would like us to investigate this matter, please write to the Practice, marked for the attention of the Practice Manager, or submit your details on an \'ask reception a question\' form, which can be found by visiting our website www.attleboroughsurgeries.com. Once we have your personal details we will be able to investigate this matter and respond to you directly.

• Disgusted

  1

  Submitted by Katryna 13th December 2021

  Every time I call I’m 20 odd in the queue get to someone answering then I start speaking and THEY PUT THE PHONE DOWN ON ME !!! ring again and back to 20th in the queue I personally find that this disgusting and not helpful very poorly and need assistance.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are very sorry to learn of your frustrations when making contact with us by telephone. I would like to reassure you that we have several dedicated receptionist each day managing our phone lines and supporting patient queries. Our call volume can be very high, which in turn creates pressure on call queue times at peak times of the day, which we try and manage by rostering additional staff. Our reception team undergo robust induction and customer care training and we have senior staff supporting the team at both our main and branch surgeries each day. As a regular observer of activities within our reception team I am frequently extremely impressed with the high levels of compassion and customer care shown by our team, often in very high stress situations and I am sorry that on this occasion that you have experienced problems when contacting us.

• Late appointment!

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  Submitted by Danielle 2nd December 2021

  I was asked to visit the surgery for 08.30 to see a doctor, once checked in on the computer screen my appointment was changed to 8.50! I did not mind waiting for the extra 20mins, but once it got 09.10 I queried with receptionist who informs me the computer screen has not checked me in. Because the appointments had different times. If this was because of typo, I am highly disappointed in efficiency and competence of the staff. I need to visit the surgery to due an Injury on previously broken arm. I was sat in the waiting in pain, I have waited for hour over my appointment and still not been seen! The receptionist had rude attitude and was very unapologetic for situation. A formal complaint will be made.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to learn of the error that occurred when checking in for your recent appointment, leading to a delay in you being seen. Unfortunately although rare, we do sometime have IT issues regarding patient check-ins due to be a two site practice. We would be very happy to investigate this matter further as value patient feedback, which enables us to review where improvements could be made. I am also sorry to read that our reception team were not helpful at this time.

• Time surgeries did their job

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 20th October 2021

  Want to see a doctor? Forget it! You can’t even speak to a receptionist.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  I am sorry to read that you have had difficulty accessing our services. We are managing and dealing with over 2,300 contacts each week and our team continue to work very hard to ensure that patients who need to see or speak to a clinician are supported to do so, although many questions and concerns can be managed by our clinicians on-line or via a telephone appointment. Our receptionists are also available during our opening hours to respond to calls. We do have extremely high demand which can impact on call queue times but our reception team endeavour to provide a high quality service to all of our patients. If you have specific concerns that you would like to bring to our attention, please contact the surgery via our website marked for the attention of the Practice Manager and we would be happy to review your concerns.

• Appalling customer care

  1

  Submitted by Stephen Griffiths 27th September 2021

  I had started coughing up blood and attended the practice where I had bloods taken and an urgent referral for chest x Ray. 9 days later I contacted the surgery to be informed that results of bloods were not back and to contact again a few days later. I subsequently did to receive an electronic message that the bloods were in and I had discussed them with the practice. I had not received any communication from the practice. I phoned the practice to be told that the results had been in the date before my original enquiry, some 11 days prior. I was then informed that a good would contact me some 24 hours later to discuss the results. Why was I not contacted as it says I was? Why do I have to wait yet again another 24 hours of intense concern that it has to be handled by a GP? The level of service and apparent lack of concern for patients is terrible

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  We are sorry to read of your experience and frustration regarding receiving a timely response to your blood tests. We are always happy to investigate issues that patients raise in order to be able to either explain directly why delays may have occurred, or to understand any issues within our own procedures. Under normal circumstances, results are usually reviewed by the clinician who ordered the test as this ensures continuity of care and a follow through on a planned approach, if action is required. If results require urgent attention then we will always ensure that they are reviewed by another clinician. Without specific details we are unfortunately unable to comment further on the concerns that you have raised but thank you for your feedback.

• Trying to use the online service from NZ

  2

  Submitted by Janette Munneke 9th September 2021

  The website has a greeting which says "good evening" and tells me the surgery is closed even though it's within the operating hours in the UK. Perhaps it's registering my time zone from NZ. Any chance of fixing that? I need to contact medical staff on behalf of my frail elderly mother and the surgery can't call me because I'm overseas, so I'd like to be able to send a message or communicate by email. Alternatively you could send me an email address I can use to make contact.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your enquiry. Our on-line access is available through our website during our usual opening hours and I am sorry that you have had issues trying to contact us from New Zealand. We do very much prefer communication to go through our website forms as this ensures that we have a full audit trail of clinical issues and responses that match with the patients record that could easily be missed if general practice emails are used. Alternatively, if you continue to have issues, you can contact our main reception during our opening times who can help complete a form and take your email details as part of completing the details that you wish to share with us regarding your mother. I hope this has answered your query.

• usually good but this time ……

  4

  Submitted by Anonymous 23rd August 2021

  i use the NHS app to request prescriptions, and it gave me no notification to say my request had been rejected. i miss ONE CALL from the dispensary department and when i try to call them back for a reason as to why my MEDICATION WAS REJECTED (which i’ve now been on for nine months at least), i was answered by a half-hour waiting list for reception, and then passed over to a voicemail machine. i didn’t talk to anyone regarding the medication that i NEED. it’s stupid that i have to suffer for a currently unknown reason without any way of getting an answer until they decide on a time to get back to me.

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  I am sorry to read of the difficulty you have had recently regarding the ordering of your medication and subsequently making contact with the Practice. We would be happy to investigate these matters further and if you would like to contact the Practice directly via our website providing us with your details. Unfortunately the wording shown on the medication ordering system is not helpful and \'rejected\' usually means that it is currently waiting for approval by a clinician. Unfortunately we are unable to change this wording, which is set by our clinical system supplier. We do provide a dedicated answerphone line for dispensary queries which is checked throughout the day and responded to. This ensures that we can effectively manage our service demand across the many dispensing activities that are essential for safe the and timely dispensing of medications and ordering requirements for our patients.

• Stroppy and rude receptionist!

  3

  Submitted by Anonymous 30th July 2021

  Had several bad experiences with a very rude , unhelpful and uncaring receptionist . Not what you need when dealing with multiple chronic health conditions !! Shame because there are several lovely ones there and some excellent Nurse Practitioners and Doctors ! As a first line of contact for people already dealing with illness a kinder / less rude attitude would be helpful !!

• Reply from Attleborough Surgeries

  Thank you for your feedback. We very much appreciate the positive comments that you have made about the many lovely members of our staff that you have spoken with and met as part of your contact with the Practice. I am however sorry to learn that not all of your experiences have been positive. Our reception team are working under relentless pressure in an increasingly challenging and demanding environment and while there is no excuse for rudeness, sadly an increasing number of our patients are quite abusive to our team which can sometimes influence their behaviour back to patients. I am sorry that this has been something that you have experienced on occasion. We are always happy to reflect and learn from patient experiences and this reply is not intended to dismiss your comments, which will be discussed with the team. Thank you once again for taking the time to feedback to the Surgery.