A SURGERY in Warrington says it is recruiting more GPs in order to keep on top of growing demand for appointments.

Chapelford Medical Centre, after exploring options to meet need in the area and ensure availability of its services, has opted to expand its team.

Permanent GPs, a full-time advanced nurse practitioner and a healthcare assistant are to be recruited to improve the continuity of access at the practice.

It comes after the surgery offered an apology to patients that have experienced long delays when trying to contact doctors over the phone.

Providing an update to patients, the medical centre said: “The practice has explored options to proactively keep on top of growing demand and avoid a crisis.

“From this, we chose to diversify our workforce.

“This allows us to provide a greater number of appointments and offer more options for accessing care that will help us manage demand as it continues to increase.

“To acknowledge concerns relating to permanent clinical staffing, we are currently recruiting permanent GPs and a full-time advanced nurse practitioner, along with a healthcare assistant to improve the continuity of access at the practice.

Chapelford Medical Centre

Chapelford Medical Centre

“Some of this resource will be specifically reserved for urgent same day cases.”

For further reassurance on accessing appointments, the surgery says it has recently implemented a new signposting structure to take the pressure off the lines at 8am.

This allows a prebooking of appointments, should that be required, and an assessment of patients’ needs to get them to the right clinician quicker.

For this structure to be a success, the medical centre is asking patients to only call the surgery at 8am for urgent, same-day appointments.

Any routine appointments can be made throughout the day, with no need to wait on the line at 8am.

The surgery added: “At Chapelford, it is our main priority to provide a safe and effective service which meets our patients’ needs.

“We hope you can recognise that the surgery is doing its utmost to maintain standards and improve access in line with our obligations.

“We thank the patients that have raised their concerns with us and hope that our actions highlight that we are listening.”