Watton Medical Practice

Feedback

• Staff are fine but under pressure

  3

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  I phone them and they’re under pressure but they’re good. The paramedics are the best. Pharmacist is lousy. They didn’t do what I expected and didn’t feel like they were on my side or sympathetic. I had a medical assessment and they asked lots of questions – they were quite medical questions and they weren’t a medical person asking them. The staff are fine – I’ve had no problems with them. The people getting everything thrown at them are doing the best they can.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Didn't know how to use blood pressure machine

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  They didn’t have the faintest idea how to use the blood pressure machine in the waiting area. I asked the receptionist and was told “it tell you over there”. I was then told I could pay for one if I wanted to. It just shows their bad attitude.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Long wait on phone, difficult to see doctor

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  Sometimes you get a doctor if you’re lucky, most of the time you only get a pharmacist or paramedic. I have spoken to a doctor on occasion but you have to be quiet forceful. My husband had an MRI but never had the results back. You have to fill in a form online but it’s fine if you can or if you can use online. When you ring you can be 34 in the queue and have a 40 minute wait.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Records said three heart attacks rather one

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  On records at the surgery my husband had it noted that he had three heart attacks rather than just one. We only found out when we asked for medication records. We did manage to get it changed but it’s quite an important thing to have correct. The surgery doesn’t grasp that some things are urgent or important. You have to fill in a form and write that it’s urgent. You have to almost overexaggerate to get across the point that it’s urgent. I asked for something to be done urgently and they said it would take two weeks and was told they were ‘a bit behind with their scanning’. Maybe it wasn’t urgent but it did need doing. I phoned for a prescription and they didn’t know what I was talking about. It was needed for an operation so it couldn't wait. I went for my prescription and it hadn’t been done. I got to the surgery and was told they didn’t know. I had to go to the pharmacy and get an emergency stock because someone hadn’t done their job. You shouldn’t need to go through this performance to get something done.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Could only complain in writing

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  My friend was spoken to rudely by the receptionist and wanted to make a complaint. I advised them that they needed to speak to the practice manager. They were told that they needed to write down their complaint and were not allowed to talk to the practice manager.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Delayed referral to hospital

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  Rang 111 for my husband and the line said it was extremely busy so I rang 999 and they said there would be a long wait for an ambulance since it didn’t count as an emergency. Ended up taking my husband to hospital and after he left hospital, they said he needed to see his GP. I phone the surgery to speak to a receptionist and got told to ‘fill in a form’. The form wasn’t available. They said they would look into it and call me back. My husband has a history of cancer and was passing blood in his urine. I called referrals at N&N and they hadn’t heard anything about a referral. We then go for our COVID jabs and they tell him he needs to go to the doctors because of his pulse. The doctors call and say he needs to get an ECG. I tell them that he’s already had the results for this but take the opportunity to ask about the urology referral that we still hadn’t hear anything about. They say it’s with the secretary. Within 10 minutes of calling I had a phonecall about the referral and booking an appointment. I know the system and how it should works so was able to push for it but what about people who don't? The consultant was not happy when we went to the appointment at the hospital. It was meant to be a 'one stop' appointment but they couldn’t do all the tests and seemed to blame telephone appointments.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Pleased with their pharmacist

  3

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  My husband has had a heart attack and Tobi, the practice pharmacist, saw him because you can't see a doctor. He was very good though, checked everything and did blood tests. He had his echo 18 weeks later and a cardiology referral. It all went through well.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Unable to see a doctor

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  I was going to complain to the CQC about how it's run. The attitudes. All of it. Pharmacists paramedics and healthcare staff are great. But everything has been piled onto them. In my experience doctors don't ring back. You go through all their forms and there's no doctor. A locum doctors said they'd put my prescription through but nothing was at the chemist. Was told the locum doctor couldn't do it and needed someone else to confirm the prescription. They just don't seem to understand that some things are urgent. It's not being able to speak to a doctor that's the problem. Most people you speak to will say the same thing. A while ago they threw people of the list and sent them to Hingham and Shipdham and we regret not going to the other surgeries. They don't seem to be able to prioritise. I think it is bad management.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• I think it's diabolical

  1

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  I think it's diabolical. I lost my husband to cancer seven years ago and a doctor at the surgery found an aneurysm but didn't tell anyone. So my husband was obviously carrying on as normal. Over 5 years the aneurysm wasn't mentioned once. He had scans for his cancer and the hospital translated it for the GP. We went in to go through it all with them. When he finished I went "I suggest you read it all" and the doctor just went "oh". Within three days we were seeing a surgeon. The surgeon said there's nothing we can do now because you will bleed to death. I can't think of a good thing to say about it. The receptionists try to tell you what to do medically. They have failed to read notes on the screen in front of them - this is nurses, doctors and receptionists. I don't go myself now - it did really effect me. I don't think they're overwhelmed I think this is incompetence. I can't see a doctor so I go to A&E and I've been to the hospital before and they have said my doctor should have sorted that.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice

• Moved in Oct19 and haven't seen a doctor

  2

  Submitted by Collected at Healthwatch Norfolk event 22nd February 2022

  I moved here in October 2019 and I haven’t seen a doctor at all. I’ve had no new patient check or anything. I’ve got Parkinson’s and my first appointment at the hospital is tomorrow. I’ve been in limbo really.

• Reply from Watton Medical Practice

  Dear Patient Thank you for attending the Healthwatch Norfolk Event which took place in the Watton Library and the Watton Cuppa Care bus on the 16th February 2022. We appreciate your feedback and are working together with the Healthwatch team who will be visiting the practice to gather further feedback from our patients. The feedback we receive goes towards future choices and decisions made to improve the service we provide for our patients. Kind Regards Gemma Smith Watton Medical Practice