"Frustrating!"

We are sorry that you have been experiencing difficulty in getting an appointment.

We have two doctors on maternity leave at present and we are only partially funded by the NHS to provide locum cover. We have engaged a locum at our own expense to help alleviate this situation, but this does not replace all of the missing appointment slots.

We are also short one doctor who left to take up a partnership position elsewhere in London. We have been unable to replace this doctor so far although we currently have advertisements in place and are actively trying to recruit.

In common with other surgeries we are having great difficulty in recruiting as doctors generally do not want to work in salaried positions in general practice any more.

As a result of this we have been limiting appointments available on the automated telephone booking system and online.

We anticipate that the situation will ease in June.

With regard to the telephone system, this is provided by the NHS landlord of the building and we have very little ability to influence how it is set up.

The system will allow you to hold on for a maximum of 20 minutes, after which it will automatically terminate the call. It will warn you twice before it does this. We have three or four receptionists answering calls at peak periods. We will investigate the possibility of assigning increased staff to this task in order to shorten waiting times.