Complaints and feedback

We would like to thank the 1,096 patients who took time to complete the Patient Survey we sent out last month. It was really beneficial for us to gather this information so we can review what works well and what might need improvement. We will be posting out the results in sections over the next couple of days.

Our first set of questions were centred around access & appointments, we received mixed responses on how easy you find contacting the surgery and the ease of Anima.

To answer some of the feedback received:

• ·         As per the GP contract the practice has to provide an online consultation platform and therefore, we will be continuing to use Anima.
• ·         Anima is not owned by the Surgery and therefore we are not able to change the questions it asks or how many, however we do submit development requests.
• ·         From 1^st April 2026, the Anima service will open online from 8am, rather than 7am as it is currently.
• ·         We would like to reconfirm that those who struggle to use the platform are able to call us from 8am to request an appointment, and we will complete the Anima on your behalf.
• ·         Issues surrounding not being able to get an appointment:

o   Anima currently has a limit on how many requests we receive daily in line with the number of appointments we have available on the day. In January & February we took 5,488 requests.

o   When we were using telephone triage, this was capped to 65 call requests a day, which would've been 2,665 requests taken in January & February. We are therefore taking more requests than we were this time two years ago with the help of Anima and employment of a new full-time GP.

• ·        From the 1^st of October 2025 we have provided routine GP appointments, these appointments are available to be booked in advance but do still need to be requested through Anima so a clinician can safely identify that this is a routine request
• ·         Being able to see the same doctor - please check on our website www.marketcross-surgery.co.uk under Surgery Staff for your preferred GPs working days. Urgent care on the day usually limits if you are able to see your preferred GP, but routine appointments will enable you to see your own GP.

Reception

·         74.5% of patients found reception team always helpful with 22% voting as sometimes helpful

·         87% of patients found that patients are always treated with courtesy and respect

·         89% of patients would rate interactions with reception as always/ generally positive

Dispensary

Feedback surrounding our dispensary showed that a high majority of patients using the service find it easy to order medication, find the team helpful and respectful and have positive experience with the service.

There were also points raised around the phone line to the department, and we are happy to announce that we will be extending the phone line to be open from 9am-1pm Monday-Friday, starting in April.

We are also at the final stage of our dispensary extension, with new shelving being fitted at the end of next week. The aim is with a larger and more organised space; we will deliver a good timely service for our patients.

Practice Environment

We asked our patients to consider the whole building, this was voted as clean and well presented by 1,029 patients with 932 choosing the Surgery as easy to find and access.

The majority of patients who required reasonable adjustments did have these provided, but we will be taking further steps to provide reasonable adjustments to everyone who needs them. Such as noting translators, or diagnoses which require patients needing a downstairs room or a later appointment.

Continuity of Care

Most of our patients reported as able to or sometimes able to see preferred clinician with the feeling this being important or sometimes important with an ongoing issue. We would like to advise patients that they can always request to see a certain GP/ clinician and we will include these in booking links when appropriate. The surgery website www.marketcross-surgery.co.uk has a staff section, which includes the working days for each GP.

Clinician Experience

We received so many positive comments relating to care and help received from teams and named individuals, thank you for those who took time to mention our wonderful staff. We have passed these comments on internally. We are very proud of the results and will strive to ensure we deliver on all aspects of care for even better results next year.

• Does the GP, nurse or other clinician listen carefully to you?                                            Yes  84%      Sometimes 14%        No 2%
• Do the clinicians explain things in a way you can understand?                                         Yes 85%       Sometimes 14%        No 1%
• Do you feel involved in decisions about your care? Or the care of a dependant?            Yes 79%       Sometimes 17%        No 4%
• Did you have confidence and trust in the last clinician that you saw?                              Yes 91%                                          No 9%

Our final questions on our February patient survey were around the overall experience of the practice. We were very pleased to see that 890 patients rated us as either consistently excellent or overall great and 994 patients would be likely or very likely to recommend the Surgery. 

We also asked, 'What could we improve on?'. This revealed four most common areas:

1.      Access to appointments/ Anima – please see post 1 on DATE for comments on this

2.      Communication– we would like to advise our patients to download the NHS App if they have a smart device. On there you can see test results, referrals and request medication. This would be the quickest way for our patients to see any information relating to care and if they need a follow up. Alternatively, please try calling the Surgery in the afternoon when the phone lines are quieter.

3.      Follow Ups – from the 1^st of October 2025 we have offered routine appointments, if the clinician has advised a follow up after a test for example, please use Anima to request a follow up appointment with the clinician.

4.      Facilities & Environment – following your feedback we will be looking into seating within the waiting rooms of the Surgery & providing hygiene resources in busy areas. The dispensary room has been extended and should be finished imminently. We are hoping with a better organised room, we can reduce time spent at the hatch preventing queues. Additionally points were raised about parking, we unfortunately do not own any of the land around the Surgery and therefore are unable to provide any parking at the Surgery.

Once again we would like to thank everyone who completed the survey for their views and opinions on the Surgery. If you have any further questions or opinions on these results please email marketcross@nhs.net FAO: Jasmine.

Most problems can be sorted out quickly and easily with the person concerned, often at the time they arise, and this may be the approach you try first.

Where you are not able to resolve your complaint in this way and wish to make a formal complaint you should do so, preferably in writing as soon as possible after the event and ideally within a few days, giving as much detail as you can, as this helps us to establish what happened more easily. In any event, this should be:

• Within 12 months of the incident,
• or within 12 months of you becoming aware of the matter

If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are not normally able to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority. See below for what to do in this case.

Send your written complaint to:

Practice Manager

Via email to:

 marketcross.enq@nhs.net

If you do not wish to raise your complaint directly with the Practice, you may make your complaint directly to Suffolk & North East Essex Integrated Care Board via
their email address complaints@snee.nhs.uk, who commission our service.

Please note, you cannot complain to both the Practice and the ICB.

What We Do Next

We do our best to settle complaints as soon as possible.

We aim to acknowledge receipt within three working days, and to resolve the matter as soon as possible and will try to give you some idea of how long that may take at the outset. You will then receive a formal reply in writing, or you may be invited to meet with the person(s) concerned to attempt to resolve the issue. If the matter is likely to take longer than this we will let you know, and keep you informed as the investigation progresses.

When looking into a complaint, we attempt to see what happened and why, to see if there is something we can learn from this, and make it possible for you to discuss the issue with those involved if you wish to do so.

When the investigations are complete, a final written response will be sent to you.

Where your complaint has been initially sent to an incorrect organisation, we may seek your consent to forward this to the correct person to deal with.

The practice complaints manager is:

Dr E.J Ayers Lead Partner

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

We keep to the strict rules of medical and personal confidentiality. If you wish to make a complaint and are not the patient involved, we will require the written consent of the patient to confirm that they are unhappy with their treatment and that we can deal with someone else about it. In the event the patient is deceased, then we may agree to respond to a family member or anyone acting on their behalf or who has had an interest in the welfare of the patient.

Where the patient is incapable of providing consent due to illness, accident or mental capacity, it may still be possible to deal with the complaint. Please provide the precise details of the circumstances that prevent this in your covering letter.

Please note that we are unable to discuss any issue relating to someone else without their express permission, which must be in writing, unless the circumstances above apply.  You may also find that if you are complaining on behalf of a child who is capable of making their own complaint, we will expect that child to contact us themselves to lodge their complaint.

We may still need to correspond directly with the patient, or may be able to deal directly with the third party. This depends on the wording of the authority provided.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome

You have the right to approach the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman.
Their contact details are:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ

Tel:    0345 0154033

Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint (to complain online or download a paper form). 

You may also approach Health Watch or the Suffolk Advocacy Service for help or advice;

The local Health Watch http://www.healthwatch.co.uk/

Or call 03000 68 3000

The Suffolk Advocacy Service is able to be contacted at: Suffolk Advocacy Service | Home | POhWER