'Elderly patients queue for hours just to make an appointment in Southport'

90 year olds queue for appointments in Southport

Call for Urgent Review of Local Access

Across Southport the traditional doctors’ appointment system is struggling to keep up with demand according to ,Cllr John Pugh, member of Sefton Health Scrutiny Committee. 

“ It’s starting to show what doctors call worrying symptoms,” he says, “Only this week I have heard of three patients in their nineties queuing at 8.00am not for treatment but simply to make an appointment at a local practice.”

Another practice stopped taking pre-bookable appointments midweek without any certainty that patients would get one the following week .

Another patient at a different practice has told me he was 33rd in a telephone queue. There are very wide variations in call handling systems with receptionists sometimes having to informally triage patients over the phone -a role for which they are not trained.

It is profoundly worrying because the most vulnerable people- elderly infirm  sometimes confused, often living alone can’t deal with all these hurdles which require persistence to overcome.  The added worry is that people may give up and ring off leaving symptoms unexplored which may emerge later as something life threatening. A serious disease like leukaemia can present itself initially in a range of ways that often elude early diagnosis.

The digital first approach that the NHS is following has many merits in saving doctors’ time, but we need to keep the door open for the traditional quick check, the word of assurance from a qualified GP. 

All GP practices in Southport are rated “good” according to the Care Quality Commission but you only have to look at Google Reviews to see that there are wide differences in patients’ experiences and the fundamental and most consistent gripe is access. Anxious people will join the queue for private care at £200 plus a consultation. That, however, just accentuates health inequalities.

No figures are kept on how many people just ring off and hope things will get better. Patients have no clear rights in this matter and no guarantees either. Pending that, we need at least to urgently commission a review of what is going on .”