Patientwent into reversein doc queue

Speaking on his un-named constituent’s behalf, SLC Independent Councillor Ed Archer said: “I’m afraid what happened to her tells me that the new phone-on-the-day appointments system at the surgery just isn’t working.

“She first phoned at 7.57 am and got no reply; the same thing happened at 7.59 am. When she phoned at 8am on the dot, when the line was officially `open’ to seek appointments, the message machine told her she was ALREADY the 33rd patient in the queue!

“She phoned back a few minutes later to find she had moved up to 27th place but a few minutes later called again - and somehow had gone BACK to 29th place! She eventually just gave up trying to get an appointment that day and said she would try again the next morning.

“I know NHS staff everywhere, including at The Lanark Doctors, are working their backsides off to give the public a good service but this kind of thing just leads to patient frustration.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the practice’s treatment - when you get an appointment!”

Dr Stacey Vettraino at the Lanark Doctors Practice said: “We would like to apologise for any difficulties experienced by patients booking a routine GP appointment.

“We recently introduced our new appointment booking system at our patients’ request and, as with any new system, it takes time to bed in.”