Aylesbury MP concerned at GP surgery waiting times

More than half of calls to a stretched GP surgery in Buckinghamshire are being abandoned, it has been revealed.

Call data for the Whitehill Surgery on Whitehill Lane in Aylesbury shows that 63 per cent of residents are not getting through to a receptionist.

The GP practice only answered 14,750 of the 46,926 calls it received – 31.4 per cent – between December last year and March 2024.

The figures, released by Whitehill under freedom of information laws, are reflected in its 1.6 stars out of five rating on Google.

Although some patients praised Whitehill’s team of staff, including the ‘lovely receptionist’ and the ‘excellent support’ it offers, many users painted a grim picture and as they struggled to make an appointment.

Some reviewers condemned the ‘absolutely appalling’ service and ‘horrible management’ at the surgery, while one said the experience of going through the clogged phone line to book an appointment was ‘like hitting your head against a brick wall’.

Some of the surgery’s patients have reported their frustrations to Aylesbury’s new Labour MP Laura Kyrke-Smith.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I am very concerned by the data about Whitehill Surgery.

“I have also heard directly from several residents who have been struggling to get appointments at Whitehill and other surgeries.”

The surgery did not respond to questions about its services, including about residents’ difficulties making an appointment there.

One patient, who did not want to be named, claimed that only 65 callers were permitted on the queue system at any one time.

They told the LDRS: “I have found it incredibly hard to get through the phone system to make a GP appointment over the past few years when I have sporadically needed support.

“This GP surgery only offers a same day appointment system, no advance GP appointments. The phone lines open at 8:30am, if you call at 8:31 the call will fail because there are too many people on the line.”

The patient’s description of patients scrambling to secure same-day appointments at the surgery was reflected in an hourly breakdown of calls the surgery receives.

The data shows that more than half of the surgery’s inbound calls over a three-month period were received between 8am and 8:59am.

The resident explained that when they had not been able to get an appointment for their premature infant children, they had been forced to call NHS 111, adding that they were concerned that some vulnerable residents would ‘just suffer in silence’.

They also praised a ‘fantastic’ GP they had seen at Whitehill, adding: “My aim is not to point the finger at individuals, rather to highlight how the underfunding of NHS services in the area are drastically failing residents and specifically failing the most vulnerable in our society.”

Kyrke-Smith also commented on the ‘underfunding’ of the NHS as she reacted to the call data for Whitehill.

She said: “GPs are the bedrock of our NHS, the first port of call for healthcare and support. But after 14 years of Conservative broken promises and neglect, GP surgeries are underfunded and overstretched, and patients are not getting the service that they need and deserve.”

The MP also hailed the government’s pledge to recruit 1,000 more GPs and slash red tape preventing surgeries from hiring doctors to help deliver more appointments.

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire Integrated Care Board has been approached for comment.