"Booking a GP appointment"

This story has been posted by Healthwatch Tameside on behalf of a member of the public. We have their details and will forward any comments to them, as they do not have an email address. They said…

This lady phoned the doctors for appointment to see a doctor at the Hattersley Group Practice. Had to wait 2 weeks because the doctor was on holiday. The week before the doctor returned she phoned for an appointment, and was told to ring the next Tuesday as there was an appointment free at a certain tme. She was told she couldn’t be given that appointment unless she rang at 8am on the Tuesday. She phoned on Monday to be told the same thing. She finally got through on the Tuesday morning after dialling constantly for 15 minutes, to be told the appointment had gone, and there were no others available. She told the reception she needed an appointment, and was told to go to the walk-in centre or A & E at Tameside Hospital. She told the receptionists she had breathing problems and wanted to see her own doctor as she had no transport to travel. She asked for the doctor to phone her – when he did he gave her an appointment for the next day which resulted in having an x-ray at Tameside Hospital. The delays caused upset and worry.