East Cliff Practice

Thank you for taking the time to feedback to us. I was sorry to read of your experience. As you have suffered multiple ear perforations it would not be appropriate to undertake ear syringing to clear blocked wax. It is likely you will require a referral to specialist services within the hospital. I am sorry if you were told you could not have an appointment with your GP to discuss this as from what you have written it seems the most sensible way forward is for you to speak with your GP and for them to make the appropriate referral. If you could call the practice or complete an online e-consult we can arrange this for you. As you kindly acknowledge we are extremely busy. I can assure you everyone in the practice does care and we do our best under increasingly challenging conditions to provide the best care we can to our patients. I am sorry that we didn’t get things right for you on this occasion.

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review again and for your positive comments about the reception team. We will feed your comments back to the GPs about the opening of windows. Face to Face appointments are still happening and more than 50% of patients are seen face to face. We still need to consider infection control particularly as we head into what is likely to be a challenging winter for the NHS. East Cliff Practice

Thank you for your comments we were sorry to read of the difficulties you have experienced and will do our best to resolve them. Unfortunately the NHS remains under significant pressure as we work our way through the backlog and new work related to the pandemic. Added to this Thanet is amongst the most under-doctored areas in the country which means our doctors have much higher patient numbers and subsequently more demand for appointments which places significant pressure on our phone lines. We are somewhat perplexed that you refer to an East Cliff messages app since we have no arrangements with app providers that allows them to directly message us and therefore we cannot trace any previous correspondence from you. If you can either contact us with your details via the e-consult option on our website: https://www.eastclifframsgate.nhs.uk/# or via the on-line form option on our website: https://www.eastclifframsgate.nhs.uk/contact-us-form we will do our best to arrange a suitable appointment. Unfortunately we have no control over the advice you were given by 111 or the service provided to you from East Kent Hospitals. East Cliff Practice

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We are sorry that you feel we are no longer meeting your needs. The pandemic has and continues to place significant pressure on the NHS. Demand for appointments has increased since the pandemic but we only have the same number of doctors and nurses. This article on the BBC News website highlights some of the challenges we face. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57229848 Thanet in particular faces greater challenge due to a shortage of doctors and nurses. https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2021/04/19/fragile-gp-system-needs-more-help-as-thanet-struggles-with-low-number-of-doctors/ Under normal circumstances the windows are open in the surgery to allow fresh air flow. For certain clinics such as audiology appointments it may be necessary for the windows to be closed to avoid noise disruption during an examination. Your son is eligible for the flu vaccination and he can be seen at the same time as you. Flu vaccine delivery had been delayed this year but we now have stock and we are starting to offer appointments. As you acknowledge Covid 19 has made it hard for the surgery and it is certainly not the fault of patients but it is also not the fault of surgery staff who continue to work hard and do our best to continue to provide care under increasingly difficult circumstances.

We are sorry you are experiencing these issues. Aside from the normal demand we are seeing increased demand on our telephone lines following the easing of lockdown. Added to this we also have increased outgoing activity as we are regularly booking covid vaccinations unfortunately adding more pressure on our phone lines. We do advise patients to try and call at different times of the day when lines are less busy and avoid the start of the day. We are also looking into a virtual queue busting system for our telephone lines which will allow you to hang up and be called back when your call is next to be answered. In line with the lifting of national restrictions we will be looking to allow more patients to come into the surgery over the coming weeks. For messages to Reception you can always go on to our website and use the admin section of our e-consult service. East Cliff Practice