Al Manahry Stationery

Had a good visit yesterday, very helpful and sorted me out. Don't blame the workers, blame our dumb government for service issues.

Worst GP in town DO NOT USE. You can't even get a appointment when you need one. Just told to call 111 or go to walking centre up Norwich. Complete useless.

Not sure what's happened to this place. The staff seem to change like the weather. Doctors details posted on the door are no longer even at the practice. What happened to the website? They had a wonderful, informative website with photo's and staff info etc. but that's gone - replaced by a "cover-all" NHS template that has very muddled info. No picture of surgery. No details of Doctors or Practitioners. In fact, the Facebook page seems more "current" (and I don't even use FB) but not really that helpful. The photo they use on Google isn't even of the surgery anyway (it's a side shot of Lloyd's Pharmacy!) so I'll attach a better one.

Ok. I'm know I'm getting older (and grumpier!) but I remember the "good old days" when you went to the surgery - were greeted by a nice smile and a "hello" but now it's a touch 'screen' and book yourself in. I'm now just waiting for the "drive thru" service! Trust me, it'll happen. Hehe. Window 1 for consultation - window 2 (arm out) for blood test - window 3 for prescription! Off you go. If you're really unlucky, It'll be window 4 - to pick out the lining for your pine box...

My other gripe is: why does no-one ever seem to know why you are there? Ok, I may be being a tad melodramatic here but it seems as if the hand doesn't know what the foot is doing. My last appointment seemed somewhat a mystery to them. I said "Is is not in my notes" to which they replied "Well, (sigh) sometimes the notes are more like 'code' than actual notes." ((Shock!))

On the plus side, (yes, I know - a plus!) the staff do seem very kind and considerate. also, I've never experienced the problems with getting an appointment as others seem to. Just blind luck maybe? I have spoken with others who have had a terrible time though. The one thing I will say is I have always been baffled by how "busy" they always say the surgery is. Not once have I ever visited where the waiting area(s) have had more than a handful of people in - and even then you seem to wait quite some time (over your appointment time) to see someone. I'm a patient person (no pun intended!) so I don't mind waiting all that much but no-one seems to ever be in a rush or overstretched so - what are they doing??? I can remember many moons ago when the old surgery would be at bursting point with patients but now - maybe 5-10? That's all I've ever seen on MY visits...

As someone else mentioned - seeing an actual Doctor seems to be fast becoming a rare thing today. It's either a Healthcare Professional, Nurse Practitioner or even the receptionist who seem quite 'skilled' at diagnosis themselves these days with asking you what the problem is. That used to be the sole domain of the Doctor - not the desk-jockey! I know, I know - it's all about "time management" today - but still, I'd rather not have to tell a receptionist about the funny size, shape and colour of my 'who-jimmy-whatsit' thanks! Haha. I've also recently been informed that they no longer do ear-irrigation at this surgery (could be mistaken as it's still on their list of 'services' ?) - they ship you off somewhere else for that too. How much more work can they offload? Anything more than a dickey tummy or a splinter and - off to A & E with you...!

Orchard Surgery. If you read this: For the love of God, bring back the old website. Straight forward, informative and well laid out. If not, at the very least get up-to-date with your current info. Surely takes all of five minutes to post a roster of your current "employee" details on the door! Can we not also have some "staff" details on the current (atrocious) site?

( TL:DR - Yep, it's a surgery - but it ain't what it used to be... )

Wish I hadn't transferred from my old surgery. People are nice but not sure it's well run. Inadequate CQC rating says it all. Phoned up with an issue. Was told I couldn't have a Dr's appointment. Instead see a physio over 3 weeks later. Terrible. AVOID.

Surgery & Lloyds pharmacy,my Doctor (Green)is excellent as are the reception staff

My every experience here has been excellent . Been going since a child . Very professional and always polite . Yer it's hard to get in some time but tell me a doctors that isn't

Ok so GPs are very busy, I get that. Its why I got both FLU and Covid jabs elsewhere to not burden them. However, the booking system employed at this practice requires you to race all the other patients to get in first by calling at a specific time of the day. If you don’t win you get to queue on the phone for a very-long-time. Very politely being told your place in the queue and to 'hold on' as the (operator?) will be with you shortly. When you do eventually get answered you are told there are no appointments left for the day and to get one you need to do the whole same thing again tomorrow!
I would like to suggest an improvement that will help us all. When the appointments run out change the message to "although you have been waiting ages, unfortunately all the people in front of you have taken the available appointments" so no point in still waiting here to have a conversation about how no appointments are available wasting your time and theirs answering calls that will have no effect except to waste time.
Good process management can save everyone time and may even lead to savings that could possibly enable more service to be provided. I do feel very sorry for the person at the other end of these calls, I expect they get a fair bit of grief from frustrated people and its completely solvable.
BTW I have never seen a GP at this surgery so can't say what the quality of the actual service is. Three stars is because I am being reasonable about the difficulty of running a GP surgery balanced with not being able to get an appointment. If you don't like the phone-race system I suggest you look elsewhere for a GP.

Been with this surgery for 30 years and sadly this surgery has got worse, I spend over an hour waiting in a queue on the phone to just get to speak to a receptionist these days and that doesn't even guarantee an appointment and it's annoying not to be able to book an appointment, especially if you work, because your not guaranteed to get an appointment on the day, on a day off. Getting to see a doctor is a rarity, so I'm getting to the point where I don't bother and hope for the best!