Mother made 104 calls to book son’s GP appointment

Loss of surgery doctor leads to long waits to get appointments

A Fife mother had to call her GP surgery 104 times before getting an appointment for her asthmatic son.

Skeith Medical Centre in Anstruther recently suffered the loss of a doctor and has had to introduce a new system for booking appointments.

Patients have complained it is leading to long waits both to get an appointment and actually see a medic.

The six-month vacancy is one of at least 14 across Fife as the turmoil engulfing GP services deepens.

Councillor Linda Holt said: “Desperate constituents have contacted me because they cannot get an appointment. There are not enough GPs (so) practices are forced to introduce mechanisms for managing demand.

“That means making it so difficult to get an appointment that people give up, so demand reduces.

“This is a dangerous and unjust way of rationing healthcare.”

Dr Chris McKenna, NHS Fife medical director, said it is working with the surgery in a bid to minimise disruption to patients seeking medical attention.

An unprecedented shortage of GPs across Fife is putting lives at risk as securing an appointment has become like a mad scramble at the Boxing Day sales, it has been claimed.

Conservative councillor Linda Holt has highlighted the situation at the Skeith Medical Centre in Anstruther as proof of the precarious nature of health services in the region, revealing a recent retirement had put immense strain on resources.

Appointments for the following week are released at 2pm on a Monday and Wednesday and many patients are reporting lengthy waits for their calls to be answered followed by gaps of several weeks before getting face-to-face contact with a GP.

Sources close to the Anstruther practice have also suggested patients wishing to see the same doctor should expect a much longer wait as the priority is to offer an appointment with any GP.

One mother told The Courier she was forced to phone the surgery 104 times before she could get an appointment for her severely asthmatic son.

Ms Holt said: “We all know there are not enough GPs to meet demand so GP practices are forced to introduce mechanisms for managing that demand.

“In practice, that means making it so difficult to get an appointment that people give up so demand reduces. This is a dangerous and unjust way of rationing healthcare.”

Ms Holt said such booking systems mean it is virtually impossible to get an appointment by phone because people who queue in person take precedence.

“This discriminates against people who, for whatever reason, cannot get to the surgery at these times.

“Getting a GP appointment has become like a mad scramble at the Boxing Day sales. It is also inefficient, as the number of missed appointments has soared under this system.

“I have written to NHS Fife’s director and Fife Council’s spokesperson for health and social care to ask for an urgent action plan.”

Dr Chris McKenna, NHS Fife medical director, said: “NHS Fife is working closely with the practice to support their recruitment efforts and assist them in minimising the disruption for patients and staff.”

“This is a dangerous and unjust way of rationing healthcare. LINDA HOLT

Long waits for calls to be answered followed by gaps of several weeks before seeing a GP at Skeith.