Part of the Breckland Alliance with School Lane Surgery, Grove Surgery, and Watton Medical Practice.
Thetford Healthy Living Centre is a community hospital providing NHS healthcare to patients and carers living in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
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17 responses from the local community
Just appalling
1
Submitted by Anonymous23rd May 2022
Self referred in October 2021 after visiting GP for constant knee pain. After seeing the Physiotherapist in early February I was told I would be referred for an MRI and it would be within 3 weeks. I was also told that he would send out some resistance bands. 7 weeks later I had not received an appointment (or the resistance bands) so I called Healthy Living for an update and was told I would receive a call back once they had spoken with the Physiotherapist. I also phoned Global Clinic the same day to enquire if they had received a referral for myself, they had not received anything. Needless to say, I did not receive a call back from Healthy Living either. Two weeks later (so 9 weeks after seeing the Physiotherapist ) I received a letter from Global saying they had received a request from Healthy Living and invited me to make an appointment. This was to be on 4th May. MRI duly completed and heard nothing until Monday 23 when I received a "reminder" for my telephone appointment on Weds 25th, an appointment I had not previously been notified about and as I already had commitments, wouldn't be able to take. I selected the change option and was duly called by Healthy Living who notified me that the next available appointment was at the end June! So I now have to wait another 5 weeks to receive the results of my MRI and find out what the next steps in treatment are. Apparently sending the results in a letter is something they don't do. Treating their patients is also something they don't appear to do. I chose Thetford Healthy Living because they had a much shorter waiting list than the N&N, in hindsight I would probably have been treated better and quicker by waiting for an N&N appointment.
Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event25th February 2022
My husband has just had his cataracts done there. He got very good treatment. Didn't have to wait long. We were very pleased with it all. Pleased with how it went. They ring you up quite soon afterwards and check how you are. We're just waiting for his left eye to clear and then it will all be alright.
We are recent parents with a newborn trying to make our way in life in these dark times. Our baby has been struggling to feed and has suspected jaundis. We contacted the midwife hub with our concerns and was told we'd receive a call back from a midwife at thetford healthy living centre. In the midst of caring for a crying baby the phone call was missed by us. We tried contacting them for a whole hour time and again with no success, so I took it upon myself to come to the healthy living centre to voice my problem. I was told another midwife was going to give a phone call back. By the time I got home they had spoke to my other half and arranged to come to ours ASAP. My girlfriend warned my the midwife wasn't happy on the phone but I can't comment on that as I wasn't on the call. But, on arrival the midwife without even a hello expressed her anger at being called to us at the end of her shift at 5pm, when we made our first call at 3pm. She was rude, my other half was crying, yes she may be emotional but that's even more reason for a midwife to come and be accepting rather than accusing. She had a go at us for ringing the healthy living centre and said we should of contacted West Suffolk hospital maternity ward. We don't live in West Suffolk and we didn't want to go to a hospital if we didn't need to. Her attitude stank and I was offended by her. I don't know if her day has been bad or not but from her attitude it seems she doesn't love her job, it seems asif I was a hindrance on her day. She apologised for her attitude 10 minutes later but I feel the damage was done, I do not condone anyone walking into my home with that attitude, at any time.
They've been really good with my husband and I. My husband goes to see the specialist Parkinson's nurse every three months and they're really good. The surgery have put together a blister pack with all of my husband's medication in one box so it helps me manage his medication better. The doctors are very good with my husband when we go for consultations. But it does feel like they're not so involved with his dementia maybe because they're not so informed about it. They do the regular check-ups with him for his dementia but during the check-up they just ask him 'how are you?' and he replies with 'I'm fine' but he's not. It feels to me that because they can't see the dementia, it's not there. But some doctors are better than others with it and I guess there's not really much they can do for him.
I've also used the breathing clinic at the surgery and it was really useful. It gave me exercise to do and ways to help make my breathing better.
An elderly lady attended the clinic for cataract surgery - her transport home was scheduled for 4pm. The hospital transport service were running very late eventually at 5.40pm they told us they were sending a taxi. Our staff had spoken to a lady at the clinic to tell her this. At 6.15pm I took a call from a very assertive man who said that we had not kept them informed, that the clinic was closing/closed and what did I want to do. I explained that transport services were sending a taxi and he said it would have been nice to know this - apparently unaware of the call we had made. He was very rude, confrontational and I felt bullied by him.
I am with School Lane Surgery and need an appointment before or after working house. I was given an appointment within two weeks at an appointment I could make which I thought was amazing! The nurse I saw was extremely helpful and I couldn't have asked for better care.
They explain everything well and show you what to do. They are very patient and very good at sitting and listening. They are very good with deaf people and provide a good service.
I can see my GP here rather than at my regular surgery and they are pretty good. My only complaint is that they have closed the x ray department and you now have to travel to Bury St Edmunds for x rays. This is a long way for anyone, but particularly the elderly. I also know someone from Brandon who was sent there for an x-ray and had to be turned away, but hopefully it has been communicated now that they no longer do x-rays.