Old Mill Surgery

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• Brilliant doctors shame about reception

  2

  Submitted by Anonymous 15th September 2021

  The doctors here are amazing especially Dr Thomas, but I can't say I've ever had a good experience with reception. They do not care about patient confidentiality at all, it makes me wary staying here. Firstly, after an appointment, i went to reception to ask for my urine results, the lady at reception didn't even try and tell me these quietly, the whole place heard my results (including patients waiting for their appointment) I was so embarrassed. Secondly, asking for a sick note, Firstly the sick note taking near enough 10 days to send to me (this is on reception as the Dr had cleared and signed it straight away) and Secondly, despite it being on my notes that I can't collect due to anxiety, they demanded I picked it up, they ignored my notes regarding this. Its been emailed to me for the last year and not regarding covid but regarding my mental health.. I then made a comment on Facebook regarding the surgery, and they decided to use my name on Facebook, look up my details from the surgery and call me regarding a Facebook comment? I didn't feel comfortable with the surgery doing this.. how easy it was for reception to look into my health record. The call was awful, it was basically a receptionist having a go at me for my comment? I didn't say anything bad so I was shocked. She was full of attitude and I wasn't sure what the point of the call was, despite me telling her I didn't feel comfortable and she was making me anxious, she carried on snapping at me (I also ignored ignored the call several times as I cant speak on the phone, but answered after as I assumed it was important by the consistency). My mum called as I can't speak on the phone, spoke to the practice manager, and was utterly shocked that it was his idea! Extremely unprofessional and a complete breach of patient confidentiality. As I said, brilliant doctors.. but please sort the rest out. You're suppose to feel comfortable contacting your surgery and raising concerns but they have nothing but attitude.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Whilst we respect your right to comment as you see fit. In this instance we feel the factual content and the background to events reported is neither accurate or correct.

• Fantastic

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  Submitted by Anonymous 10th August 2021

  A really fantastic surgery and the best I have ever been registered under. Thank you so much!

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Thank you for the glowing comments our team will take heart from praise such as this.

• The Receptionist barrier is an obstruction

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  Submitted by Anonymous 8th April 2021

  Speaking on behalf of a partner who has recently had life changing surgery; one feels somewhat left to fend for oneself by the GP practice. The current phone selection process and reception service leave few options open to the patient, other than hospitalisation when you deem your own condition to be life threatening. A telephone conversation with the GP, is rarely available and not always beneficial, being sometimes inefficient at conveying the relevant information. Under circumstances where the patient has undergone major surgery, even in the current pandemic, there needs to be a support structure that allows vulnerable cases to be flagged up at Reception stage for the GP's immediate attention.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Patient If at any point a patient feels that they have a life threatening condition then the appropriate action would be to call 999 and seek immediate help. Should a patient feel that their clinical need is necessary for a same day appointment then one of the clinical team would triage the request and make the necessary consultation whether by telephone call or a face to face appointment. Indeed a call could lead to a follow up consultation in the surgery. We have access to help from the Practice via an online platform. If you access the Practice website go into the Consulting Room and click the link \'Get Help from the Practice\' than you can fill a form detailing the problem and one of our clinical team will review this and determine the method of consultation. I hope this information is of some help. Kind regards

• Repeat prescriptions are a difficulty!

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  Submitted by Anonymous 22nd March 2021

  Unlike most on here, I cannot fault the reception/pharmacy/nusrses/doctors or paramedics for making me feel welcome and being perfectly friendly. Having said that, I have only had to go for one appointment with a GP so I can't comment on how difficult it is to get one (appt). I do however go every couple of months or so for prescriptions and the amount of times I've been prescribed the wrong dose and/or quantity is ridiculous. I am also set up for texts to tell me when prescriptions are ready to be collected but this seems to work sporadically. I used to work as a receptionist in a vets, and we were able to order the right medication based on previous doses/amounts on the system, and conversations with the vet if required. I really don't see how it can be so different in a doctors surgery that what I have had previously and what I've requested is what is actually dispensed! Other than this annoying repeated experience though, it's the nicest doctors at which I've ever been registered, and as I say, the staff have been more than polite and friendly (even when I've had to moan).

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Patient Thank you for your comments and I will discuss the issue regarding text messaging with my dispensary team to see what the issue may be. I would appreciate details of who you are and what medication issues you have been having so I can conduct an investigation to prevent you from experiencing further inconvenience. I will pass on your positive comments to those concerned. Kind regards

• Reception Customer service appalling!

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  Submitted by Anonymous 20th March 2021

  Having not been to the doctors at all much for years, calling the surgery to get appointment is a nightmare - receptionists extremely cold and abrupt basically making you feel like you are waisting their time, they are not interested - I understand that there is a pandemic on and they are probably getting lots of COVID vaccine calls but if you really want to see a doctor this is not the way to be to patients who have probably only called to see a doctor as it’s important to them. More care needed! If you do call for appointment there is never one available so you have to call following day from 8am again to go through the painstaking procedure again!!!!- I go once a month for pharmacy only - no one ever in waiting room. But you can’t get appointment to see docs.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Patient Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback - I would have liked the opportunity to address your issue at the time to try and resolve your particular experience. That said your observation that we are extremely busy at present is correct and we continue to see an exponential increase in demand for our services. We have throughout the Pandemic managed our patients in a different way by initially triaging them by telephone and where the clinician feels there is a requirement to see a patient face to face this is arranged. This is why the waiting room may appear to be relatively quiet. We do provide more clinical sessions than most GP Practices in Norfolk using many differing clinicians but unfortunately on some days we cannot meet the demand for routine appointments. Please be assured that if the clinical need was such that a same day appointment was required our patient would be seen. Kind regards

• Vaccination

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  Submitted by Anonymous 15th February 2021

  They phoned me to book me in for my vaccination, it was very prompt and well-organised.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Patient Thank you for your complimentary comment - I will inform my team who will appreciate this kind remark. Kind regards

• Reception

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 4th February 2021

  Staff from reception I have contacted today was rather brusque. I have not been to see my GP to visit for many years. Most staff/ all GP's are all new in our surgery & doesn't have any accommodating gesture over the phone. The old GP's & staff that I know then where absolutely helpful and approachable. Such a shame they are now gone. To the new GP Practice staff: Please be polite when talking to patients.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Patient Thank you for your feedback and I apolgise if you feel the service provided by our Reception team did not meet your expectations. I would appreciate personalised feedback by either writing to me or by telephone call so I could address any matters of concern. Kind regards

• Great practice

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  Submitted by Mat Phillips 19th January 2021

  The practice staff are always willing to support, engage and advise to promote the safety of their patients. I also work in primary care, albeit elsewhere and I would certainly recommend my friends and family to Old Mill and Millgates.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Mr Phillips Your comments are most welcome and it is rewarding that someone who has Primary Care experience acknowledges the services we provide. Thank You

• Very good except getting through on phone

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  Submitted by Anonymous 26th September 2019

  I've only used them once and they were very good! From what I hear from others in the family. Getting an appointment is difficult - whether that's on the phone or visiting the practice. You sometimes just can't get through on the phone. Appointments can be so far ahead, that they won't go and I have to nag them. They also don't like having to use the triage system that makes them describe their symptoms to the receptionist - it's not very private.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Thank you for your detailed comments and I hope you do not mind but I will address yours concerns individually: Getting an Appointment - We have in recent times developed an integrated care model which includes Doctors, Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and Paramedics. If there is an urgent need for an appointment then patients will be seen same day. The reason the receptionists ask patients for their symptoms is so they can place the patient with the correct member of our clinical team. Receptionists are bound by the same confidentiality rules as any other member of the team. We have discussed this with our PPG and they are in agreement that this is a satisfactory way of getting the patient to the right member of our clinical team. The telephone system has been changed and we now operate a cloud based model. It will inform those who are ringing where they are in the queue. There are peak periods and a timely response is not always achievable. We do not have the resources to man the lines with the additional staff but do monitor demand to see if we can improve. I hope this response helps and we are more than happy to reflect on any suggestions. Thank you

• Too many people, not enough doctors

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  Submitted by Anonymous 26th September 2019

  There's just too many people and not enough doctors. It can take 2/3 week to get an appointment or a blood test. There's so many new houses being built and no increase in doctors. By the time you manage to see the doctor, you're starting to feel a bit better. The new manager has taken away the water cooler they used to have which means if someone is feeling unwell and needs water the receptionist has to go upstairs and bring down a glass of water for them. We've mentioned it before and the receptionist has told us to send in a letter so the manager knows patients concerns. I had a heart attack and they don't seem to want to do regular check-ups on things that can prevent future issues. I understand they're short on staff. But I'm worried that something might just go wrong if they're not monitoring it closely and then I'd have to start the process again from the start. Can't afford to do things before they happen but have to wait for it to happen. Everyone worries about their health and if you've had something like a heart attack, it would just be reassuring to have them monitor your concerns more closely. You get amazing care from the doctors though - I have no complaints about that.

• Reply from Old Mill Surgery

  Dear Author The Practice has 7 GP\'s who provide 36 sessions of appointments per week except when holiday or ill. These are augmented by a Nurse Practitioner, Practice Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and Paramedics. In relation to many local Practices our clinical provision per 1,000 patients is much more than most. We manage chronic disease effectively with proactive recall although the current Pandemic has had an impact on this. Our provision of tests for laboratory - which includes blood and urine testing is the highest in South Norfolk. If you have concerns about your personal care provision I would be more than happy to discuss to determine what the issues are. Th e water cooler was withdrawn on the grounds of Health & Safety. Our floors in the reception area become extremely dangerous when water is left on them. We had incidents where there were significant slip hazards which we had to mitigate. Furthermore some of our patients did not dispose of used cups and left them on the window ledges or reception often with water left in. As you have correctly stated we will should a patient need water provide it. I hope this answers some of your concerns but would be more than content to discuss with you further. Kind regards