Fed-up patients who have encountered problems with the out-of-hours doctors service used in Powys have been inundating councillors with complaints.
Anxious patients have had to wait for a response and sometimes for hours to see a doctor when they call the Shropdoc service, it has been claimed.
A report yesterday dubbed the UK out-of-hours system “shambolic”, sparking a debate in Welshpool when the county council’s Montgomeryshire committee had a meeting with John Howard, chief executive of local health watchdog the Montgomeryshire Community Health Council.
“If anyone wishes to complain about Shropdoc, I would suggest they should do it through the CHC,” Mr Howard told councillors.
“We can monitor it. We’ll know what complaints are being made and they will carry more weight. We have an advocate.”
He said the service was often criticised for lateness, but that was because doctors had different rules.
“Because it is a GP out-of-hours service, it only gets flagged up for lateness if they take longer than six hours to see someone, which is a significant difference from the ambulance service, which has eight minutes to respond,” he said.
“We can see why members of the public get annoyed and upset waiting for a phonecall back.”
Powys county councillor Bob Mills said he had been “inundated” with complaints from people in his Newtown ward. “People get so fed up with being messed around that they don’t follow through; they put the phone down,” he said.
And county councillor Michael Williams urged people to contact the CHC when they see Shropdoc failing.
“I know people don’t feel like progressing complaints if they’re sick, but I would urge everybody able to do so to get through to the CHC.”
Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates said out-of-hours provision for health care in Mid Wales should be “re-thought”, after the report was issued.
He suggested a system that would place rapid response vehicles alongside ambulance services, to deal with emergency and non-emergency calls between them.
By Mike Sivier
4 Comments
its the government you should complain to as the mess is of their making in the first place,and this is happening all over the country.
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As someone who works on the inside of Shropdoc I do feel some of the comments are a little unfair. We work very hard to ensure that all patients are treated as quickly and fairly as possible but we too have limited access to emergency services. The lack of Gov. funding for Community hospitals and staff are causing closures and therefore the level of service patients expect and indeed we ourselves would like to provide have been compromised. Within Shropshire the comments I have received have been very favourable.
It would help though, if people who are calling about sniffles and other minor ailments would bear in mind that along with the ambulance service Shropdoc is there for emergencies. Common sense and co-operation would be appreciated.
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Shropdoc cannot provide an adequate service within Shropshire. So who on earth thought Shropdoc would be able to cope with providing a service for Powys?
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I have now come across many stories throughout the country where out of hours services are failing patients in need. My mother was left to die in pain by her local service at Leighton hospital in Crewe, Cheshire, by a service lacking in skilled staff and where communications with other services broke down completely. She had been seen by a doctor in a hurry who misdiagnosed her and following this any further calls to tghe service were dismissed. We were told ‘You’ve had you diagnosis you cannot have a further visit’. Mum got worse and by the time they agreed to finally send a nurse it was too late. This was on Christmas day 2004.
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