Patients left waiting after technical difficulties disrupt doctors

Wellfield Health Centre

Patients have been left waiting for appointments at a local surgery after problems have arisen with their telephone system.

Wellfield Health Centre, on Oldham Road in Rochdale, has been experiencing technical difficulties with their phone system after being inundated with new patients.

Patients of the surgery have been complaining about the time they spend waiting for appointments and the time they have to spend waiting on the phone to even get through to the reception desk. One patient said: “There is no point ringing as there are never any appointments left, even if you can get through to talk to someone.” Another patient added: “I always drive to the surgery at 8.00am to make appointments.”

Wellfield Health Centre is aware of the current issues and is advising patients to bear with them. Practice Manager Dee Flynn said: “The problem is being addressed and we are aware of the issues.”

The Health Centre, which opens weekdays from 8.00am has recently received patients from Drake Street Surgery as that surgery is due to close in August. Mrs Flynn added: “We have the patients from Drake Street ringing us and because they don’t know they are with us now, they hang up the phone and clog up the line. Patients are bearing with us because today, out of 189 calls, only 13 were abandoned.”

The surgery are expecting the staff from Drake Street to join them after the closure in August and Mrs Flynn hopes that this will help ease the problems on the phones.

Patients have also complained about the fact that the computers are often down. One patient told us: “I went to make an appointment and the staff told me the computer was down. They said it could be off for an hour or even all day.” That staff member then said: “This often happens since they opened the new surgery and had a new provider.”

Mrs Flynn wants patients to be reassured that these issues are temporary and are being addressed: “We are aware of a couple of issues and are asking patients to just bear with us.”