East Norwich Medical Partnership

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• Terrible Service

  1

  Submitted by Rosalie Dodd Jones 27th September 2021

  Our family recently moved up to Norfolk and registered with this practice. Over the past few months I have personally generated several eConsults where I have either had no response, or an email weeks later advising me there are no appointments for that day and to call 111 if symptoms continue out of hours. Today I chased an eConsult I submitted on 13/09/2021. After several calls this morning and having an automated message advising me the call queue was full and to ring back later, I was finally placed 29th in the queue and waited an hour and a half to finally speak to member of staff. For this one occasion, they have apologised and arranged for a GP ringback for this afternoon. I have the upmost respect for primary care and completely empathise with the pressures the staff are under, but I think the way this practice is currently being run is quite frankly dangerous (evidenced by the multiple complaints already seen on this forum). I have absolutely no faith in this practice, and have previously resorted to attending walk in centres, calling 111 and taking my one year old daughter directly to A&E for concerns that I would have previously contacted my GP for. Communication should be at the forefront of gold standard patient care, and it is absolutely shocking at this practice. When I have been successful at obtaining some form of clinical consultation, the care received has been good. This is a poorly run and poorly managed practice and I will be contacting the CQC regarding my concerns for patient safety. I am lucky enough to have some clinical knowledge to safety net my own family, but what I also have is time to push things when necessary. I do also understand that I am a minority, and I am genuinely worried that other patients may suffer at the hands of this colossal mismanagement. If it really is just a case of lack of staffing at an administrative level then this must absolutely be rectified and the practice need to take responsibility for this.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Mrs Dodd-Jones, Thank you for taking the time to write regarding your experience since registering earlier this year with the practice. As this is a public forum I do not wish to go into too much detail regarding your personal details, I can confirm you have contacted the surgery several times via the practice website out of the four submissions received and actioned, three resulted in telephone triage appointments one of which was not answered by the patient, one advised to ring surgery due to the delay of 10 days in response to the submission (Aug). Through August the practice did have difficulties in responding to the website submissions due to staff shortages, (annual leave, contracting COVID, NHS App pinging). Therefore, the practice made the decision to prioritise the answering of the telephone. As the surgery is still currently following the directive of NHS England and Department of Social Care standard operating procedures for general practice. Who advise total triage for all patients wishing to be seen, this does place a demand and delay on calls into the practice: we currently manage approx 550 calls a day. We are sorry to hear of your disappointment with the current level of service and can only apologise for the frustration you have experienced. We will continue to follow the standard operating procedures outlined above for the foreseeable future. Protecting our vulnerable patients and staff is our top priority. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Just what are they doing?

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 27th September 2021

  I have a suspicious lump on my back that I think may be cancer, it may not. I used the web message system to try to get an appointment fir it to take a month to reply and fib me off on 111 or A&E, neither get a person to look at it & it’s not an emergency and would be an abuse of A&E. They also suggested calling them at 8am each morning but that’s a lottery & often can’t get on the phone queue its’full’. All this while most of the time no one is in the patient waiting room at Thorpe & I go twice a month for prescription at the pharmacy there. Others have said same. So just what are they doing? I’ve also had months of prescriptions being incomplete so have had stress of being hours from being without essential meds. Pharmacy points to practice & again others have had same experience. It’s not just busy it’s administratively incompetent too & all this time I may have a skin cancer. It’s enough to drive me to private sector if I could afford it!

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, Since the beginning of the pandemic the practice has continued to remain open to allow patients access to clinical services where appropriate. The practice is working under the directive of NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care and abide by the Standard Operating Procedures for general practice. This requires the practice staff to work a total triaging system, prioritising the needs of the patient is the clinician’s decision and they will allocate a face to face appointment as appropriate. When contacting the practice by telephone a telephone triage appointment will be arranged. The number of appointments does vary from day to day due to staff holidays, illness etc. Through August the practice had a very challenging time as staff contracted COVID-19 and were also absent due to the NHS App ‘pinging’. The decision at this time was to prioritise the telephone over the website, we currently working to catch up with the submissions which have not been actioned on the website. When submitting a form via the website the patient ticks a box stating the enquiry is not urgent. Regarding your medication I am unable to investigate this further as I do not have your name, I suspect you may require a medication review, telephone appointments are available with a clinician for these to take place. Please do persevere with the telephone as this is the best way to contact the surgery. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• No response

  1

  Submitted by Anonymous 16th September 2021

  You can not get through to the surgery on the phone and when you do they can not see or call you on the day as you have waited and are 34th in the queue. They ask and tell.you about using the.website to book or ask a question, I sent an email on Monday, had email confirmation they had received the email and would try and respond within 2 working days, its Thursday and still no response!

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, Thank you for your comment; the practice is managing approximately 500 telephone calls a day due to using the total triage system as advised by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. This has impacted on the practice ability to answer the telephone in a timelier way. Regarding the website the practice does currently have a back log, this is mainly due to staff taking annual leave and contracting COVID-19. This is a non-urgent way of communicating with the practice and we are currently working through the outstanding requests. As you have placed this comment anonymously, we are unable to investigate your website submission in greater detail. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Disgusting Service

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  Submitted by Anonymous 6th September 2021

  Tried to call on 4 occasions today, each time told the phone lines are closed to new calls and told to ring back later. The final time was in the queue at number 6 and then the lines were switched off. I have tried on several occasions to email only to not get a reply so resorted back to telephone. This practice is distgusting and has no respect for patients, we don't even have the choice of practice reception as the Thorpe reception is now unmanned. My biggest question is that how on earth did the ENMP get a Good report? I'm now looking for another Doctors Surgery as this one does not care for it's patients, no wonder there's queues at A & E, sometimes thats the only option for people from Sprowston or Thorpe due to this shambolic service.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, Thank you for your comment, as this has been placed anonymously I am unable to investigate further your claim of being ‘told the phone line is closed to new calls and to ring back later’. All calls to the practice are logged by the telephone system; I would be able to check when the calls were made to the practice, to verify your claims. Due to a current shortage of staff we have had to close the reception at Thorpe Health Centre, we hope to re-open this once the holiday season has finished. Should you wish for me to investigate your concerns further please contact me at the surgery via our complaints email address which can be found on the practice website. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Shocking service

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  Submitted by Robert Cockaday 26th August 2021

  Well we do you start. Sometime ago I was experiencing night sweats, lack of sleep and generally unwell. I had a telephone conversation with who I assume was a GP, and was told to book a blood test this I did. The blood test was taken and was told the results would be discussed with me by a GP. I received a text message saying could I make an appointment to talk to a GP this I did, the date was for three weeks time Wednesday 25th August between the hours of 3.00pm and 7.00pm. Guess what, nobody phoned what a surprise. My wife telephoned to complain this morning to be told I had got the wrong date, I don’t think so!!! I then telephoned to complain to the practice manager to be told that this person is very to important to speak to patients. I was then told to send an email complaint which would be seen by the compliance manager who and wait for this, only works Tuesday and Thursday. This is not the first time that I feel frustrated with this practice, only two weeks ago my wife had a triage telephone call to be told if your symptoms get worse go to A&E, what do these Doctors do for their £90,000 salaries, certainly not serving the community. Are all surgeries like this one or is the worst practice in Norwich. I do realise the restraints that go with the pandemic, but you can see a dentist, pharmacist, buy shopping, go to a football match with 27,000 other people and go on holiday but please please don’t even think about seeing a GP because at this practice these people are a figment of our imagination.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Mr Cockaday, Please accept my apologies for not responding earlier you your comment. Thank you for raising your concerns, as your comment was added last year it would not be appropriate for the practice to respond at this late stage. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Exasperated!

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  Submitted by Paul Hindley 20th August 2021

  No response over weeks of messaging the interactive service to reception and finally consulting room. Eventually phoned them and asked why? They've been very busy. Then why state they will get back to you in 48 hours, why not leave a note on the website to say this is not the case? I've waited weeks, eventually phoned them to say I have the wrong extension, can they put me through? No. They give me the option to ring again stating I need to choose option 3. I ring, wait forever listening to this pre-recorded statement Covid, I'm not interested, to find out they're closed for the day!! Absolutely warn out by all this time wasting!

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Mr Hindley, Thank you for your time on the telephone today and for your understanding of the difficulties the practice has recently experienced regarding the delays responding to website enquiries. Please accept my apologies on behalf of the practice for the frustration you have experienced. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Poor service

  1

  Submitted by Graeme Malcolm 11th August 2021

  Getting an appointment us next to impossible. I have tried to complain twice and had no response. I have used the online booking system twice. After 2 weeks if hearing nothing I was sent a message asking if I still needed the appointment, The second time I sent photos of suspected skin cancer (I have had it before) But still no response after nearly 3 weeks.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Mr Malcolm, Please accept my apologies on behalf of the practice for waiting for such a long time for a response to your original complaint. We have since had a conversation by telephone which I do hope has helped with resolving your concerns. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Appalling level of service.

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  Submitted by Paul Robinson 7th August 2021

  I have been trying to get to talk to a doctor since 21st July when I had an auto response saying someone would be in touch I 48hrs. 6 days later I had herd nothing so phoned, eventually got threw and after an appoligie they found my request and said they would get a doctor to call the next day late morning. I had a meeting in the morning but was due to finish at 9.30 so OK for a late morning call. To my horror I'd missed a caĺl at 9.25 (not late morning) so I called to apologies an was told it was my fault for missing the call and I would have to submit another online request. I complained and eventually told she would talk to the doctor and see if she would call me back. After a couple of days I realised that this wasn't happening so called again and explained yet again what had happened. This time I was told a nurse practitioner would call on the Monday between 8 and 10. Great! ! But still no call, so after making several attempts to call and waiting listening to silly messages for hours and never getting below 15th in the que I gave up and wrote another long message of complaint on there web system. Again auto response was be called in 48hrs. Its now been 3days hence this complaint. I have been a patient there for 35 year at least if you include time at Dr Millers surgery before being transfered here. I am thinking of leaving for another surgery as well as writing to our MP to look into what is happening here. I wast suffering from stress but am now. If this was my business I would ashamed to be offering such a poor level of customer service.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Mr Robinson, Thank you for taking the time to highlight your concerns when contacting the surgery. Currently the practice is working under the directive the NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care abiding by their standard operating procedures, which currently is a total triage system. We will continue to operate this system for the foreseeable future. The workload of the practice has increased threefold this year placing a great deal of pressure on all staff who are still working and have the same anxieties as our patients. We have also been required to participate in the work necessitated by the national COVID vaccination programme. Just to compound matters we are currently we are very short staffed due to annual leave and staff having to isolate as a result of \'pinging\' from the NHS App. I am reluctant to go into your personal details as this is a public forum, however I do understand that you are currently being looked after by one of our nursing team. Please accept apologies rom the practice for the frustration you have had to contend with. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• In call queue for 4 hours and 43 minutes

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  Submitted by Anonymous 2nd August 2021

  I was in a call queue to this surgery for 4 hours and 43 minutes for them to answer and hang up. This surgery is diabolical, cannot get a face to face appt for love nor money unless you really put your parts on and they wonder why the hospital is under immense strain.

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Anonymous, Thank you for raising your concerns, we are unable to look into your individual concern as your comment has been placed anonymously We are currently very short staffed, due to staffs on annual leave and being asked to isolate via the NHS App. this has meant there is a longer wait then usual on the telephone system. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager

• Really disappointed

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  Submitted by Sue 26th July 2021

  Began ringing at 4.50 pm after being advised to call later in the day. It is now 6.22 pm. We are no 1 in the queue with the phone ringing and a recorded message saying "please continue to hold" My daughter is in pain and in tears as wants her test results. 26/07/2021

• Reply from East Norwich Medical Partnership

  Dear Sue, We are very sorry to hear of the service you received yesterday, please accept my apologies on behalf of the practice and for your daughters distress. The main phone line transfer to the out of hours’ service at 6pm, I believe you may have been caught in the transfer of calls hence the message, again I can only apologise. As we do not have you full name we are unable to contact you to ensure you have now been able to receive your daughter test results. Please do contact me at the surgery should you still be having problems. Yours sincerely Carol Postle Compliance Manager