OKEHAMPTON residents have expressed their concerns that the town’s medical centre was ‘still under strain’ following the influx of new patients after the closure of the Ockment Surgery last year.

In November 2015 NHS England revealed the GP surgery based at the town hospital would close in April 2016. The news left nearly 2,000 patients looking for a new GP — a number of whom registered with the nearest health service provider, Okehampton Medical Centre.

Since then, a number of patients have said the medical centre struggled to cope, with extra people needing appointments and that the closure of the surgery had left the hospital ‘vulnerable’.

‘I feel angry that the hospital GP was relocated as that stripped it of another service, thus leaving the hospital vulnerable and Okehampton Medical Centre overwhelmed,’ said patient Rebecca Goodenough.

‘It is now rare to get to see my GP that knows my family history. The staff do a great job and it is important to recognise that without the dedicated team we’d have even less access to our GP and nurses. We should value what we have and use only when necessary but equally not feel guilty for getting our health checked out.’

Father-of-three Sean Sandercock said: ‘It’s a nightmare to get an appointment! With so many patients, the medical centre is still under strain. It can sometimes take up to three weeks just to get an appointment.’

Cllr Tony Leech said he was concerned with the situation: ‘I have had a number of people telling me how concerned they are about the Okehampton Medical Centre’s ability to cope with all the new patients that it has acquired since the second surgery was closed down, plus the thousands of new patients who will eventually be coming to the area to fill up all the new houses proposed under the West Devon Borough Councils (WDBC) Joint Local Plan.

‘I, like others, am concerned about the waiting time to see my own doctor, which can literally be weeks. Patients with long term conditions, who need to be see their own doctor who fully understands the individuals needs, do not want to have to keep “filling in“ other doctors on what are often complicated issues.

‘I am certainly not blaming the doctors for this situation, as it is the systems and pressures that they have to work under that are causing the problems. I understand that due to the changes being made by NHS England, our doctors are having to carry out more and more home visits and this means that they have even less time for surgery hours than they had before.’

In response, Okehampton Medical Centre’s practice manager, Kiran Bakhshi, said: ‘We are very sorry that some patients have expressed concerns regarding the medical centre’s capacity to cope with additional patients who joined us following the closure of the Okement Surgery.

‘We are a large medical centre serving around 14,500 patients and recognise that some patients will find the service different to experiences they may have had in a smaller practice. It is important to understand that nationally primary care is under pressure and most practices have waiting times to see your own doctor for a non-urgent problem.

‘In order to help manage the increased demand, we have recruited additional clinical and administrative staff and have taken measures such as installing a new automated phone system and sending out text message reminders.

‘We provide a GP telephone triage service daily so that if you need to be seen urgently by a doctor this will always be possible. We offer telephone appointments with doctors so that appropriate problems can be dealt with without having to come in for an appointment, and some of these are available early morning and late evening for the convenience of working people.’

‘The more information you are able to give the receptionists, the better they will be able to help direct you to the most appropriate person to deal with your query, as it may not always be necessary to see a doctor.

‘We have also improved access by offering appointments to see another doctors. If your own doctor does not have an appointment within two weeks, although we understand that some patients prefer continuity and only wish to see their own doctor. Unfortunately, doctors can sometimes get ill, are entitled to take annual leave, do not have clinics to see patients when they are the Duty Doctor, and although they work long hours and deal with huge amounts of work when they are in, they do not usually work five days a week at the medical centre.’

‘If you wish to proactively engage with the practice to help provide input and support with improving services, please consider joining the Patient Participation Group (PPG).

‘The PPG is holding a coffee morning at the Charter Hall on June 3 at which there will be an information stall for the practice, so please do come along and I hope we will be able to answer any questions or concerns you may have.’

Hugh Norman, spokesperson of the Medial Centre’s PPG, expressed that the closure of the Okement Surgery was initially ‘handled badly’ by health bosses, however the medical centre was doing its best to cope.

He said: ‘It was handled extremely badly in the first place as their was little consultation about the closure of the surgery. It came at a difficult time and the medical centre had to recruit more staff. It was a rocky two to three month period but I believe the facilities are there to cope with the amount of patients.

‘The issues facing us now are not to do with the closure of the Ockment Centre but issues that come from the health service in general.

‘While the practice isn’t perfect, the Patient Participation Group will continue to work with the medical centre, striving to provide a good service for its patients.’

What’s your opinion on Okehampton Medical Centre and the effects the closure of the Okement Surgery has had? Send your thoughts to [email protected]