Submitted by collected by Healthwatch Norfolk staff27th September 2024
If it's an emergency they're great. I went to my GP as I wasn't feeling well and they did two angiograms but they weren't happy with the results so they got an ambulance straight to the surgery.
Submitted by collected by Healthwatch Norfolk staff23rd September 2024
It's difficult to get an appointment, even if you call early in the morning you can't get in. They just give you a phone appointment which I don't like.
They are good for vaccinations. It's not too bad for getting appointments, it does well considering the population. Because we're old we get prioritised. The nurses are good for injections.
Submitted by Healthwatch Norfolk staff on behalf of person28th June 2024
Whenever I've been there it's been fine. Whenever I've had issues they've seen me quickly. The staff are all lovely. I've not had any problems. I've got a lot going on but everything I've been down there for has been dealt with very well. There's no rush there.
My issue is specifically about the appointments system – when you do get to see a GP at the Market Surgery it is a good service.
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Submitted by John Grocott30th May 2024
My issue is specifically about the appointments system – when you do get to see a GP at the Market Surgery it is a good service.
Yesterday, I wanted to make a ‘routine’ GP appointment to discuss something that is worrying me a lot but could not be described as either urgent or life-threatening. The practice has an online booking system for routine, non-urgent GP and other (e.g. health care assistant) appointments. Yesterday, the system offered me no such GP appointments between 29 May and 27 July. None. There were a multitude of Health Care Assistant appointments. Today, things had changed. Between 30 May and 27 July, five 5 GP Face-to-Face sessions had appeared (as if by magic) and two sessions with an ‘Assistant Practitioner’ alongside more than 50 slots with a health care assistant (as before) and one session with a nurse. I gratefully booked a GP appointment and I imagine the remaining slots will soon be taken. My immediate problem appears to be solved but the experience left me thinking...
The issue here is clearly the serendipity involved in securing a GP consultation for non-urgent, yet worrying, issues that could be serious and may need speedy diagnosis (to save greater costs for the NHS later on) yet cannot, at the time, be legitimately described as ‘urgent’ or life-threatening. Arguably, this type of appointment should be the bread-and-butter of GP practices and at the core of primary care. Clearly, if this practice is offering somewhere between zero and 5 of this type of GP consultation slot between now and the end of July, it is not succeeding in this respect.
What alternatives do patients at the Market Surgery have for booking a GP consultation? Well, the alternative is the all-too-familiar 8-8.30 am lottery of calling the practice to declare an urgent condition, short of a 999 situation, in order to see a GP on the day. This – often somewhat demeaning – procedure will likely result (to be fair) in the patient being able to see a GP on the day, at least at this practice. All fine and well, but surely many of these patients with ‘urgent’ issues would have happily booked online for an appointment ‘in a few days’ rather than having to declare – in effect – an emergency short of a 999 situation, had such a choice been available to them.
No surprises here, I suspect, to patients of practices across the county but is it beyond the wit of man to solve the problem? One obvious solution would involve a demand-led rather than a supply-led approach e.g. decide how many consultations of an urgent nature and of a non-urgent (but worrying) nature are actually required in Aylsham on a month-by-month basis and then ensure that the practice provides that number of urgent/non-urgent slots (I am assuming there is a wealth of data available in the practice NHS records to allow a good stab at doing this). Perhaps consider also if the online booking system is fit for purpose. My guess is that when GP appointments are offered online they will always quickly fill up – the demand will appear to be insatiable. Given this, how about dealing with all requests for GP consultations by telephone (Health Care Assistant or Nurse consultations can presumably happily be left to an online system) and distinguishing them as ‘acute conditions’ (something just happened, and I need to see a GP today) and ‘chronic conditions’ (something is going on that worries me and I would like to see a GP in the next week or so)? I realise that the elephant-in-the-room issue with a demand-led system is likely to be GP working practices and I know nothing about the constraints affecting the Aylsham practice in this regard. Nevertheless, it occurs to me that some hard decisions may be required that lie between the ‘rock’ of a demand-led appointments system and the ‘hard place’ of GP working practices (including practice ‘profitability’ and remuneration) and until they are made, patient frustration with a struggling system will only grow.
Submitted by Feedback collected by Healthwatch Norfolk staff22nd May 2024
You get told that you have to phone between 8-10:30 if you want to book an urgent appointment. I tried to book an appointment and was 19th in the call que so I went to the surgery in person at 10:20 and asked to make a non-urgent appointment but was told there wasn't any. So how am I supposed to make an appointment? I asked to see a female doctor and got an appointment with one in the end and it was good. I'm normally happy with the care I receive but would give them 3/5 stars for the system.
Submitted by Healthwatch Norfolk staff on behalf of patient24th April 2024
I recently went to see a nurse practitioner to receive my blood test results. I was able to pick up my new medication within two days, and if you ring up you can get an appointment within two days.
Submitted by Healthwatch Norfolk staff on behalf of patient24th April 2024
They do it well. I have had excellent treatment there. It's quite good for getting an appointment there, if you know when to call and what to say. Some people get wound up before the phone gets answered and are ready for an argument. But if you are polite to them then you get a good service.
They do keep pushing the Covid jabs, though - I think they could tone it down a bit. You get a text and a letter - people know that the jabs are available, they should just let people go and get them if they want one.