Long Bennington Medical Centre receives backlash on village's community Facebook group following plans to change its booking system
Changes to a village’s doctor’s surgery’s booking system, which will see emergency appointments cut by half, have been met with dismay.
As of January 27, Long Bennington Medical Centre, which also has patients from surrounding villages including Westborough; Claypole; and Marston, will no longer be offering walk-in daily open surgeries.
Patients wanting a same-day appointment will need to phone the surgery at 8am to book an appointment at the centre’s new urgent clinic, with appointments available between 10.40am and 12pm.
Patients who cannot get an urgent appointment on the same day will be advised to call the following day.
However, if a patient feels they need to be seen urgently, their request will be passed to the GPs who will assess the best course of action.
The news was shared on the Long Bennington Village Community Facebook group, and was met with overwhelming concern from the group’s 1,225 followers.
The group’s administrator, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “People are really concerned because we’ve always had a great system, where people could start queuing from 8.30am and would be seen from 9am up until 12pm.
“But now people will only have an hour and 20 minutes to be seen, and they’ll have to call back the next day if they can’t be seen. It’s just not going to work.
“It’s just been imposed on the residents with no consultation whatsoever.”
Fellow resident Joy Jordan said: “The Medical Centre announcing the end of open surgeries each morning has met with universal dismay in the village.
“The practice may be under NHS pressure to save money, but basic health care should not be the area to cut.”
Alison Lowerson, practice manager at Long Bennington Medical Centre, said: “We have introduced the new Urgent Clinic in response to patient feedback, and it should reduce the time patients need to wait to be seen on the day by a GP, and improve access for patients who live in the surrounding villages.
“We are asking patients not to attend without an appointment, since we will no longer be operating sit and wait open surgeries.
“If patients find it difficult to come for an appointment during our usual surgery hours, appointments are also available during the evenings and weekends, either here or at a local practice in extended access clinics.”
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