Castle Partnership

Feedback

• Really bad phone/appointment system

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 29th June 2022

  Really bad system to book an (impossible) appointment with the GP. I tried phoning several times at different times of the day but the queue was always very large (more than 10 callers ahead of me). In the last call, after waiting 30 min on the queue, I got through and they said that I can’t book a face to face appointment and all that they can offer is a telephone call with a GP next week sometime in the afternoon to triage and decide if the doctor should see me at all. This system is clearly not working. It shouldn’t be this difficult to have an appointment with the GP in the privacy of their surgery, instead of having to discuss personal issues on the phone wherever I am at the moment of the call.

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, I am very sorry that you have had issues when trying to contact the partnership. We have had higher than usual levels of staff sickness absence and have had a number of vacant posts that we have had difficulty trying to recruit into. All of this has had an impact on the levels of service we have been able to provide and has led to longer waits than we would have liked. We do now have staff back from sickness absence/isolation and we have recruited a number of new staff into post. We still have new staff who will be joining us in the coming weeks. All of this to help ensure that we are providing the staff into Reception and make it as easy as possible for patients to contact the surgery. We will also be reopening our online booking system very soon to allow patients to book via the website appointments or contact Reception. We are also looking into a new telephone system to improve the patient experience and ensure that, as much as possible, patients are not waiting this length of time to get through to us. We hope that with these improvements in place, we will be able to ensure that we have a robust and improved level of customer service. With regards the appointment system, we are undertaking a telephone appointment with a GP first as often many patients do prefer not having to come into the surgery and many issues can be resolved over the phone. The date and time of this appointment will be agreed with you when booking. Where a GP does feel that it is clinically appropriate for a patient to be seen face to face, then they will book an appointment at a mutually suitable time. Often this is very quick after the telephone appointment. The benefit of this approach is that it enables patients to have access to a GP much quicker than would have happened previously. Under our old appointment system, a routine appointment would often only be available on average four weeks from the request to book. With this system we are able to offer a routine appointment on average within five days. Once again please accept my sincere apologises for the issues you have faced in traying to contact the surgery. With the increased staff and the improvements we are looking to make then you should not experience a similar issue in future. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Recieved an initatin for nhs health check

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  Submitted by Chris Seaman. 28th June 2022

  I received an invitation for a free nhs health check. Phoned the surgery and I'm 18th in the que. So I wait and after nearly 20 mins I'm up to 12th position in que. This is when they cut me off. Nit happy with such a terrible service.

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Mr Seaman, I am very sorry to hear about the issues you have had trying to contact the Partnership. Whilst this is no excuse we have had higher than usual levels of staff sickness absence the past number of weeks and have had a number of vacant posts that we have had problems trying to recruit into. Thankfully our absence levels have now reduced dramatically and we have recruited additional staff into the Reception teams that have started or due to start very shortly. We are also currently investigating a new telephony system that will make it easier to contact the surgery and signpost patients according to their requirements. We are in talks with our current supplier to see how this might be integrated with our current systems. We will be relaunching our online booking system very shortly to enable Pts to book appointments and contact the Reception team. I am very sorry for this situation and that you have had problems contacting the surgery. With staff back from sickness absence, more staff now in post, the relaunching of the online system and a possible new telephone system, we are working hard to ensure that this does not happen again. Once again please accept my deepest apologises for this recent situation. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Ridiculous phone queue system

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  Submitted by Anonymous 28th June 2022

  During the pandemic, the castle partnership introduced a brilliant online format to book appointments. It worked really well and meant that you could get an appointment within a few days of your query. Often, a doctor would ring on the same day! This morning, my husband tried to make an appointment. He didn’t bother going on the website as we knew full well that the online system has been removed, even though the automated phone voice when calling still advises you to make an appointment through it. After being on the phone for well over an hour, he finally got through to the receptionist (this wait is not uncommon) to find out that the booking systems are down. The response to his view that it would have been helpful to know this an hour ago was that he should go to the walk in centre. It seems that maybe, instead of going to the castle partnership for a doctors appointment, it might be easier to just go straight to the walk in centre!

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, I am very sorry to hear about this issues you have had trying to contact the Partnership. Whilst this is no excuse we have had higher than usual levels of staff sickness absence and have had a number of vacant posts that we have had problems trying to recruit into. We have now recruited a number of new staff who have started or are due to start. So we will soon be back up to full strength within the Reception Teams. We are also currently investigating a new telephony system that will make it easier to contact the surgery and signpost patients according to their requirements. We are in talks with our current supplier to see how this might be integrated with our current systems. We will be relaunching our online booking system very shortly to enable Pts to book appointments and contact the Reception team. On June 28th there was an issue with the Clinical System. This did mean that we were unable to make bookings or access medical notes. This was not only impacting Castle Partnership but also many others within Norfolk & Waveney. Once we were made aware of the situation, we placed a high priority news item onto our website and I recorded a message to anyone calling the surgery informing them of the situation. I fully appreciate however that if you were in the call queue at that time, you would not have heard this message. Once again I am truly sorry for the issues you have faced and we are working hard to ensure that we improve our systems and the service we offer all our Patients. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Letter with no explaination

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  Submitted by Anonymous 21st June 2022

  I recently had an ultrasound scan and was told to call my GP the next day to ensure they looked at the results. I did this (after several attempts). I then received a letter stating that I had been referred to the hospital in order to exclude from serious illness along with a leaflet from one of the Cancer charities re: explaining your urgent referral. I had had no contact from anyone at the surgery to give me ultrasound results etc. so the letter was completely out of the blue. Whilst i have experience of serious illness it was still distressing to receive, particularly for my partner and is terrible communication

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, I am very sorry to hear that you received a leaflet through and a letter without any explanation. This is certainly not how we like to contact patients. As I am not sure of your details I am unable to look into this further for you and understand what has gone wrong. I would really like the opportunity to investigate this further and if you are happy to, if you could email the surgery at castle.partnership@nhs.net with further details, I will look into this for you. Once again I apologise for this situation and look forward to hearing from you with more details. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Awful phone system - waited and cut off

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  Submitted by James Wright 14th June 2022

  Needed to reschedule an asthma clinic appointment. Can cancel online, but not reschedule. Afternoon of 14/06 sat in a hold queue for 40 minutes and having finally been answered could hear the conversation going on in the office, but the person had removed their headset by the sounds of things, but left my call live. Could not hear me. Phone message says that it is possible to contact via website, but you have withdrawn this.

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Mr Wright, I am very sorry to hear about this issues you have had trying to contact the Partnership. Whilst this is no excuse we have had higher than usual levels of staff sickness absence and have had a number of vacant posts that we have had problems trying to recruit into. Like many other areas of healthcare as well as other sectors in the economy, recruitment post pandemic has been an issue. We have now recruited a number of new staff who have started or are due to start. So we will soon be back up to full strength within the Reception Teams. We are also currently investigating a new telephony system that will make it easier to contact the surgery and signpost patients according to their requirements. We are in talks with our current supplier to see how this might be integrated with our current systems. We will be relaunching our online booking system very shortly to enable Pts to book appointments and contact the Reception team. Once again I am very sorry that you have had this experience and we are committed to ensuring that we improve. There has been a rather unfortunate set of circumstances that have led to this situation and for that we are deeply sorry. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Inadequate assessment via telephone.

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  Submitted by Mrs Alexandra Glasson 4th June 2022

  Our 23 year old son was experiencing difficulty swallowing and was in extreme pain which was worsening despite having taken Penicillin 500 mg 4 times a day for two days which he was prescribed by the Walk in Centre for tonsillitis. We, his parents, were concerned about his worsening condition and the fact that he was unable to eat or drink. We called the surgery for an appointment for our son and was informed that the GP would call him, rather than being offered a face to face appointment, although I had stated the severity of his condition. The GP spoke to me (mother) at first as our son had explained it was so difficult for him to speak, and I explained that I was concerned about his condition as he seemed to be getting worse despite being on the antibiotics.She asked me whether he had been diagnosed with Tonsillitis by the Walk in Centre and I replied that he had. Once she had heard this she spoke to our son again and said that he should keep taking fluids and that he should see an improvement within another two days and if not to return to the Walk in Centre. She also stated that people aren't generally admitted to hospital for Tonsillitis. Our son felt unsure why she had said this and did not feel reassured. We feel that the G.P did not pick up on the warnings, i.e difficulty swallowing, breathing, eating, drinking and worsening pain, and should have offered a face to face appointment when she would have detected the Quinsy. Instead of offering to see him as her patient she suggested that if there was no improvement in a further two days he return to the Walk in Centre. Our son deteriorated overnight, having breathing difficulties and worsening symptoms, so the following day we took him back to the Walk in Centre. Here he was diagnosed with a Quinsy and told to immediately go to A&E and tell the staff that he needed to be seen by ENT. However no referral form or telephone call was made to the Hospital by the Walk in Centre. The A&E Doctor remarked on the fact that our son had not been referred by the Walk in Centre and stated that he was 'appalled'. Our son was admitted to Hospital (after spending eight hours in A&E) where he remained for the following four nights due to the severity of his condition. We feel that our son was let down by his GP service and by the Walk in Centre. This resulted in a deterioration in his condition, extended suffering and a longer treatment and recovery period than he would otherwise have experienced. In the past we have been happy with the services provided by Castle Partnership, however on this occasion we feel let down.

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Mrs Glasson, Firstly can I apologise that you feel let down by Castle Partnership. We work hard to ensure that we provide the best possible care to all our Patients. I will have a look into this situation and will discuss with the Dr you spoke to about this issue and will write to your Son directly after I have investigated further. I am afraid that the Walk in Centre is operated by another surgery, so I am not able to comment on their action(s) in relation to this. However I will investigate this from our Partnership. In the meantime if you have any further concerns, then please feel free to contact the Practice. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Horrendous, waited almost hour on phone

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 31st May 2022

  Terrible, number 6 in call queue, got to number one then cut off, why no email address

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, I am sorry to hear that you have had an issue with regards getting through on the phones to the surgery. I am not too sure of when you tried to call us, but we have recently worked hard to improve the service on the phones by ensuring that at peak times we have as many staff on the phone as possible. We have also joined all three sites telephone system to maximise the number of staff who can respond to incoming calls. We have also recently revised the options on the phone, so that those who wish to discuss anything to do with their prescriptions or medication are directed to a dedicated prescription hub. This is designed to free up more capacity within Reception to answer the phones. As I mentioned, I am not sure as to the date and time you attempted to call. We have recently had higher than usual levels of staff absence due to COVID. As we are obliged to follow NHS guidance, our staff still undergo asymptomatic lateral flow testing twice a week. Any positive results means a member of staff has to self isolate until they receive a negative result, irrespective if they feel fine or not. So this has caused some issues with staffing internally. We do not tend to use email address for patient communication as this can create a false sense of expectation that a medical issue will be responded to. Our generic email address is not monitored on an ongoing basis and may only be reviewed once a day. Should a patient send a query or request through, this may not be picked up until the following day. That is why we look to direct all patients to contact us via the phone, although I understand that this was not your experience in this case. I would be more than happy if you would like to discuss this further or provide me with more details to allow me to undertake a full root cause analysis of this issue. Many thanks BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership

• Dr Whitehead - awesome

  5

  Submitted by Mark Harrison 13th May 2022

  Could not have been more caring or helpful in every way with a worrying health concern with our young boy

  
  
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• 90 yr old mother term cancer let down by syst

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  Submitted by Anonymous 2nd May 2022

  Mum been vomiting since Jan all tests etc lost 2.5 stone because tumour blocking food pipe had stent fitted 14/4 wheeled out hospital lots paperwork numbers to call no response from those when called today is 1/5 had no communication she not had visit from only 1 nurse via gp who assessed her last week asked lots questions inc if she owned her house? Mum not know she terminal was shocked now no feed back from them she lost another stone since stent fitted 14/4 I feel like she been sent home to die so so sad

  
  
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• Can't get through on phone

  4

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 28th February 2022

  I go to the surgery because I can't get through on the phone. The reception staff are always very good and very caring. They tell me the doctor will call me back but nobody gets back to me. Last time I went I turned up expecting to see a doctor and found I was seeing a nurse. I would like it to be easier to get to see a doctor.

• Reply from Castle Partnership

  Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for your feedback. I’m very sorry that you have experienced issues getting through on the phone. I would really like to speak to you further about these issues & what we maybe able to do to look to improve. If you would like to pop into the surgery & we can look to arrange an appointment to discuss further & how we can look to improve. BR Marc Rolph Business Manager Castle Partnership