HEALTH bosses have apologised after a shortage of doctors means Woodley’s Loddon Vale practice is unable to offer advanced appointments.
Dozens of furious patients contacted The Wokingham Paper to complain they are having to queue up when the surgery opens in the hope of getting an appointment the same day.
Many said elderly relatives and neighbours were also being told they would no longer be able to see their usual GP and phone calls to the surgery were going unanswered.
A spokesperson for the surgery said the situation would continue until May when “normal service” would be resumed.
One patient, David Hawkins described the situation as “a crisis”.
“Apparently, due to a lack of doctors and an ever-increasing number of patients, the surgery no longer offers advance appointments. The only way to see a GP is to phone up, or travel to the surgery and queue up first thing in the morning, to try and get one of the very limited number of same day appointments,” he said.
“If unlucky, presumably the patient is expected to repeat the process on the following day. There are numerous accounts including my personal experience, of waiting 30 minutes and more for a phone call to be answered, if at all.
“This is a ridiculous situation. Being able to make an advance appointment for a non-urgent issue is vital, given most of us have work and home commitments that need to be taken into consideration.”
Another patient who asked not to be named, claimed patients were being told they could no longer see their own family doctor.
“I saw an elderly man in tears when he was told he would have to see another GP. The man told me he had been attending the same family doctor for years and had built up a relationship but now he was being switched to someone else. How is that caring for patients?”
Another reader said: “I was told the only way to secure an appointment was to arrive first thing and hopefully I would get one that afternoon, but it wasn’t guaranteed.
“I had to collect my children from school, so it really messed up my day.”
When The Wokingham Paper contacted the surgery, a woman who answered our call said patients had “no right” to contact us about the situation.
She added that any patient who had a complaint should follow the usual protocol. When asked what that protocol was, she hung up.
Later, a spokesperson for the practice said: “We take all feedback seriously and sincerely apologise to any patients who have experienced problems making an appointment.
“Unfortunately, due to a GP shortage we are only able to offer same day appointments throughout April.
“We would like to reassure patients that normal service, including both same day and advance appointments (up to four weeks in advance with a GP and five weeks with a practice nurse) will be available again from May.
“We are sorry if patients have experienced delays when calling the surgery, as we strive to answer our phones as quickly as possible. However, at certain times of the day we often see a higher number of callers and patients coming into the surgery, and we thank people for their patience during these particularly busy periods.”
