A Ryde doctor’s surgery will no longer be offering patients pre-bookable GP appointments due to staffing shortages.
Now, all appointments at Ryde Esplanade Surgery have to be made on the day.
The GP shortage has affected a number of Isle of Wight surgeries, including Sandown Medical Centre which had to close its lists to new patients at the end of July.
Health bosses have warned more surgeries could face the same fate. Speaking to the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (IW CCG) in July, Dr Timothy Wheelan said:
“There remain practices which feel they are just one incident away from collapse, and that is certainly the case on the Island.”
Dr Joanna Hesse, partner at Ryde Esplanade, said restricting pre-bookable appointments was just one of the steps taken to try to manage the urgent demand for appointments.
Dr Hesse said:
“Like many GP practices nationally, we are also facing a challenge to recruit new GPs to the practice following on from doctors retiring.
“We have also faced an increase in the number of requests we receive for same-day appointments.
“While we are working hard to recruit new GPs, we have brought in different ways of working to offer patients a safe and flexible service.
“This includes introducing online access to GP advice, in which the practice responds by end of next working day to a query, and offering telephone consultations with doctors, nurses and a pharmacist.”
Patients will be offered telephone and face-to-face appointments with the extended access service, which offers pre-bookable appointments in the evenings and Saturdays.
Dr Hesse added:
“We are aware of the difficulties this has caused some patients requesting appointments in advance and we are continuing to look for solutions.”
“We are still booking a few appointments in advance with GPs and nurses after a telephone triage.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some additions by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: peddhapati under CC BY 2.0
