DOCTORS at Stockton Heath Medical Centre would seem to have devised a way to avoid providing rudimentary routine medical care to their patients.

First they make a rule that ‘no appointments can be made except on the day’; secondly ‘appointments can only be made by telephone’.

Then put a permanent automatic answerphone message on the surgery line endlessly declaring ‘due to the excessive number of emergency cases today there are no routine appointments available’.

While in the surgery building to collect my repeat prescriptions from the pharmacy on site, I overheard an obviously distressed pensioner telling the doctor’s receptionist that she had walked in because she had been unable to get any answer on the telephone. The receptionist could offer no help and told the pensioner to keep trying to ring.

Nye Bevan will roll in his grave at this scandalous abuse of his NHS by doctors ‘working’ the ‘Doctor First’ system and effectively enforcing ‘Tory’ cost cutting.

PAUL CARTER
Appleton