By Scunthorpe GP practice faces abuse and missed appointments daily
A Scunthorpe GP practice, West Common Lane Teaching Practice, faces abuse and missed appointments daily.
Dozens of patients continue to abandon appointments without warning despite the immense pressure the practice is facing as 2021 draws to a close.
Receptionists at the Scunthorpe GP practice also face masses of abuse answering the telephone as people demand appointments that are typically fully booked for the day by 8:45am each morning.
They also face many patients who refuse to comply with Covid-19 safety measures in their practices.
Some GPs are reportedly having to work till midnight to get their work completed for the day.
The British Medical Association recently warned that the NHS is currently under the worst strain it has ever seen.
Practices and medical centres in North Lincolnshire are particularly struggling to recruit and train their staff.
In a statement on their Facebook page, West Common Lane Teaching Practice said: “During the 8-week period from week commencing 30/8/2021, West Common Lane offered over 6,500 appointments to patients.
“These were a mixture of face-to-face appointments, telephone appointments and home visits.
“Unfortunately, during this period, 449 appointments were not attended by patients.”
The Scunthorpe GP practice has also recently scrapped its prescription line.
Since the beginning of September, medicine can only be ordered online through patient access in order to free up telephone lines.
In a separate statement, they wrote: “From 1 September 2021 West Common Lane Teaching Practice will no longer have a prescription line.
“This means that you will not be able to order your medication over the telephone from this date.
“You can order your medication/s online if you are signed up to patient access.
“If you are not yet signed up to patient access, you can do this by coming into either Surgery and speaking to one of our receptionists.
“You will need to bring some ID along with you.”
They added: “As the Surgery is getting busier with more patients on repeat medications for complex conditions, this new system will minimise risks of a potential error and also help to ease congestion on the phone lines.”
