Residents in Royton have claimed two GP practices are continually letting them down as they struggle to book an appointment or see a doctor face-to-face, just months after Oldham Council said it would investigate.
It has been almost three months since residents in Royton told The Oldham Times they faced an uphill battle when it came to booking an appointment at either Royton and Crompton Family Practice (Wellbeing Centre) or Royton Medical Centre.
In July, patients said obtaining a GP appointment was so difficult that many resorted to A&E and shared concerns for the health and welfare of elderly and vulnerable people in the area.
One woman was even misdiagnosed with vertigo at one of the practices before taking herself to A&E where doctors rushed her into surgery after discovering she had a brain tumour.
The Royton GP surgeries on Park Street and Chapel Street said in separate statements to The Oldham Times that they were facing a shortage of GPs, an increase in demand post-Covid and were battling with no-show patients who fail to cancel on time.
Royton Medical Centre and Royton and Crompton Family Practice were also rated the worst for booking an appointment in the latest NHS England's Patient Survey 2022, coming in at second and third place respectively behind Kapur Family Care.
However, despite assurances from the Council and the GP practices, a deluge of fresh criticism suggests the situation hasn't improved.
Over at Royton Medical Centre, Adrian Rooke and his wife, Janet, said they faced difficulty booking an appointment and struggled to grapple with the technology required to send images and details electronically.
Mr Rooke said the only way to get an appointment was to physically attend at 8am since the telephone line cuts out after 15 to 20 minutes.
However, he claims he faced the same difficulty just last week.
Mr Rooke said: "I rang at 8am and was connected to the answering service and was then told I would be connected to a member of staff.
"I was given four options and chose number two for a patient advisor, but was immediately cut off.
"I tried again a few minutes later and the result was the same."
The 70-year-old said he then went into the surgery himself just after 9am and was greeted with an empty waiting area.
Mr Rooke added: "I believe that people's mental health is suffering due to the anxiety and frustration being heaped upon their medical conditions.
“The word patient is derived from the Latin word ‘patiens’, meaning enduring or suffering. It could not be more apposite.”
Another patient at the practice who did not want to be named said the phone line is "constantly engaged" and that she had to phone "umpteen times over two days" which went unanswered.
Similarly, she said she went to the surgery in person and joined a queue of a dozen people before being assigned an appointment later that day.
Robert Barlow added that the service is "shocking".
Mr Barlow said: “You have to ring at 8am on the dot to try and make an appointment but even then, you are lucky to get onto the top 10 countdown as most times, the line just goes dead.
“You can use the Patient Access App, but again you have to be super quick and on the ball.”
Mr Barlow also commented on the seemingly empty waiting area when he attended for a blood test recently.
“I would change my practice if I thought for one minute any of the others were better, but alas I very much doubt it", he added.
A spokesperson for Royton Medical Practice said the pandemic and subsequent fallout "is continuing to lengthen some appointment waiting times" and pointed out a lack of GPs and clinicians more generally across the country.
The statement continued: "The new Government has recognised this as a national problem, and we await their plan to help primary health care with great anticipation.
"We will continue to be as proactive as we can be, offering same-day and advance appointments as well as new ways of booking time with a clinician through the Patient Access Service (where you can book from 6.30pm the night before).
“We urge those who have made comments recently about our practice to join our Patient Participation Group and engage with us to address them."
However, one patient told The Oldham Times he was one of 30 who has applied to join the Patient Participation Group but was told it was not yet "up and running" last week.
The spokesperson for the practice continued: "All of us work for the NHS because we want to care for the sick with compassion and professionalism and we will do all that as physically possible to make sure that is the case in Royton."
Meanwhile, the situation at Royton and Crompton Family Practice isn't much better.
Laura Harrison said she has been driven to give up calling entirely and said: "I don't have hours to sit on the phone on the off-chance I might get an appointment."
Ms Harrison said she needed an appointment for her child and was given a telephone call - but missed it as she was at work on a training course and was told to "go through the process again".
"They expect that you will sit waiting for the call all day - that's difficult when you are working", she added.
Ms Harrison also said she had been waiting for the results of an ultrasound scan and blood tests for months and that her mother was even turned away from an appointment after sitting in the waiting room for half an hour.
Yvonne Chadwick echoed similar concerns, claiming appointments are "non-existent".
"You can't get through on the phone. You can't get face-to-face appointments.
"It's disgusting and you feel like they have no time for you. They keep saying the phone line is busy and to try later. It's just not good enough. It is so stressful."
Other patients said they now go to the chemist for medical advice and queue up in the morning. However, not all of the views were negative.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted booking an appointment "is ridiculous" but said she has "nothing but praise" for the surgery after they helped her then eight-month-old baby who had Covid.
She also said one doctor is "lovely" and "very thorough" before adding that the scrutiny GPs face "isn't fair" due to the entire NHS being overwhelmed.
Pamela Forster also said she found getting an appointment was "relatively" easy and Yvonne Simon said she had "no problem" with the surgery last week when she was offered a telephone appointment.
Although Royton and Crompton Family Practice did not offer a new comment, in July it said it was working to make the patient journey "smooth" by allowing patients to book in advance or online.
A new appointment system is expected to come to the surgery in October.
Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Amanda Chadderton said in July that she was "horrified to hear" that residents were struggling to get through to a doctor after becoming aware of complaints last year and said she would be writing to the medical practices to "try and work through the problems".
In an update, Cllr Chadderton said: “Conversations with both practices in Royton are ongoing, and I’m aware that changes have been made to certain processes – including the introduction of an on-the-day duty Doctor and an online triage process.
“But I understand residents’ frustrations at not being able to see their GP when they want and need to.
"Unfortunately, this is a consequence of a Conservative Government unbothered by a crisis in the primary care sector and a shortage of GPs.”
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