East Harling Surgery

Feedback

• The Surgery Is Falling Behind

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  Submitted by Collected by Healthwatch Norfolk Staff 7th November 2023

  I have written to the CQC about my thoughts on this surgery and I attended the public meeting the surgery hosted. I found it interesting that the only senior member of staff there was the practice manager, where were the GP partners? As an 83 year old I don't feel that the service is as available as it used to be. The safety net isn't as good. It seems like you have to complain or dig your heels in to get to see anyone. East Harling surgery is falling behind and has gone backward with the services it offers. I'd like to see it greatly improved.

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for your feedback We are sorry to hear that you feel that the service is not meeting your expectations. The Practice Team is working extremely working hard every day to strive to provide the best possible level of care for all of our patients. Please do let us know directly if there are any specific concerns which you wish to raise so that we can consider appropriate actions to address such concerns.

• Something Is Fundamentally Wrong

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  Submitted by Collected by Healthwatch Norfolk Staff 7th November 2023

  I think it's a terrible surgery. We've actually just put our house on the market to get away from this surgery. We've lived here for 40 years and feel like we have to go. I called for an appointment and had to wait 4 weeks for it. On the morning of the appointment I got a call saying it was cancelled. Then that afternoon I got a text asking me how my visit was! Something is fundamentally wrong there, all the staff are leaving. All the nurses I've seen have been very good, they seem to be trying hard to hold it all together.

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. We are very sorry to hear that you have experienced any difficulties with accessing appointments. Any appointments cancelled on the same day will invariably be as a result of clinician absence owing to illness. In these circumstances our staff will endeavour to secure the next available appointment for the patient, or, where appropriate, make a referral to the Duty Doctor on the same day.

• Don't Take Notice Of The People

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  Submitted by Collected by Healthwatch Norfolk Staff 7th November 2023

  Not everyone is on social media, but the surgery seems to expect us all to be on it. They share information that way and people miss out. It seems to me like they can't keep any staff. It just isn't a functioning surgery. It's usually a four week wait for an appointment. They say you have to call on the day for an appointment, but when I eventually get through they say all the appointments are gone. When I was in the surgery a saw a man in his 80s wait in a queue for 20 minutes to speak to a receptionist. All he wanted to do was cancel an appointment! Recently the hospital sent a letter to the practice asking them to prescribe me a new medication. The surgery just filed the letter away and did nothing. I asked them about the new medication and they knew nothing about it. They just don't take notice of the people.

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for providing this feedback. We communicate news about the Practice utilising a number of channels, not only social media, but also via our website, by way of a monthly Practice Newsletter, which is distributed to the Parish Councils within the Practice boundary, and is also available in paper format at both our Practice sites. The Practice Manager is also a regular attendee at Parish Council meetings to provide updates on the Practice. We also have an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) which meets every 4-6 weeks and all patients are welcome to express an interest in joining this group where there is an opportunity to provide feedback to Practice Management.

• Repeat Prescription

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  Submitted by Miss Jane Ashley 26th October 2023

  Ordered online via Systemone which states allow 5 days however I left this 7 days to allow for the weekend and no prescription at the pharmacy. Was told to chase this up at the doctors so walked down and enquired at the prescription desk who said it was done the day before! I was advised that it was most probably still awaiting signature but as I’m going away I needed this. She then went off to check if it was in the pile awaiting signature but nope not there either so has to be re printed and await signature. Told it won’t be done till tomorrow despite me explaining that I’m out the country and need these to take with me. The whole point of ordering online is because I work full time and can’t just keep taking time off to collect and chase something as simple as this!! Absolutely atrocious service

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for providing this feedback. We are very sorry to hear that you have experienced difficulties with your repeat prescription. We do request 5 WORKING days i.e. excluding weekends and Bank Holidays for repeat prescriptions, but appreciate that communication could have been better in the circumstances that you describe, and we would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused. We do have a repeat prescription ordering line which is open 08:30 - 18:00 Monday-Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). This line is accessed by telephoning the Practice and selecting option 2.

• Refused cervical smear

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  Submitted by Anonymous 16th October 2023

  I have abnormal cells. I have to have annual cervical smears. I had biopsies last year. NNUH told me to have smear test again in a year. I booked in plenty of time as I knew I would have to wait. It's a very painful event for me. I attended the appointment. Called in by the nurse who stated that I was too early for my test. I told her that I had followed the instructions of the hospital. She said there was no point in the procedure as it was too early so off I went home, after taking time off work to attend and not tested. She told me to book in December. The following day a letter arrived from NNUH telling me to book a test. You can't make this up. I have now just stood at Harling reception for 20 minutes in order to rebook whilst trying to speak very quietly as there were 5 people behind me. Why can't we book online anymore? Why did this nurse feel she knew better than me? No-one chooses to have this procedure done for the fun of it. Wasted time. Stress and anxiety and now more time until I'm tested and more time until I get results. These things have to be dealt with in a timely fashion due to changes.

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for providing this feedback. We are very sorry that the Practice did not meet your expectations on this occasion. Please do contact us if you are still seeking an appointment to discuss any concerns which you may have.

• above & beyond!

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  Submitted by Margaret Ruth Wallace 13th October 2023

  Private Eye once had a column called "scenes you seldom see" satirizing what the public expected but didn't get. Well my flu jab experience would fit this. Jabbed by very efficient young nurse who also offered to look in my ears as I needed another referral for microwax removal AND sent email referring me. I received a phone call the following morning giving me appointment early November. She also offered me a pneumococcal vaccination. Wonderful service, thank you

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for providing this feedback. We are delighted to hear that you are happy with the care that you received at your recent visit to the Practice.

• one in the queue!

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  Submitted by Margaret Ruth Wallace 29th September 2023

  Having read recent Google reviews was dreading making a call just to book flu jabs for myself & partner but at 09.36 yesterday I spent only 11 minutes on the phone to the receptionist who was kind, efficient and booked us both in for next Tuesday! I had expected a "dedicated" line for flu jabs and failing this expected a long wait but it didn't happen. My Google account isn't working otherwise would have put five star review!

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. We continue to work hard every day on managing telephone call waiting times, and we are delighted to hear that you were pleased with your experience on telephoning the Practice.

• Repeat prescription

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  Submitted by Anonymous 15th September 2023

  Repeat prescriptions have gone from 2 days to 5 days, but now they are stating if you order on Tuesday then it will ready the following Tuesday which is 7 days!!!! I wasn’t aware of this when I ordered last Monday and went to pick up on Friday, I am now without some of my tablets for a possible 4 days.

• Reply from East Harling Surgery

  Thank you for your feedback. We were sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the repeat prescription service at the Practice. Just to confirm that we request 5 WORKING days for repeat prescriptions, so ordering a repeat on a Tuesday would usually result in collection of the medication on the following Tuesday. We have also launched a Managed Repeat Prescription service which avoids the need for patients to manually request repeat prescriptions. Please do not hesitate to contact our Dispensary staff at either Practice site if you would like to discuss this service, or if you have any concerns in the future

• Chest xray

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  Submitted by Anonymous 24th August 2023

  I was referred for Chest x ray locally at Thetford, very prompt and efficient. I received the results that same day. Amazing service from Harling Surgery… thank you so much

  
  
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• Poor

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  Submitted by Sally 11th August 2023

  Very difficult to be seen Very difficult to get appropriate treatment when needed Ever changing staff Inconsistent Unreliable

  
  
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