Patients at a west Fife GP practice fear it will take a death before concerns over an “appalling” appointments system are addressed.
Under-fire Valleyfield Medical Practice has faced criticism over its telephone system, with thousands of calls to the practice going unanswered.
The surgery has only been offering urgent same-day appointments since November when two doctors left and another cut her hours.
And NHS Fife is struggling to recruit replacements due to a national GP shortage.
Community councils say they have been inundated with complaints from patients who have been unable to see a doctor.
One woman spent days trying to get through on the phone to arrange an appointment after discovering a lump.
And another complained she had made 118 calls to the practice before she could speak to a receptionist.
Others claim they have resorted to paying for private medical consultations to get treatment.
NHS Fife says it has already taken steps to improve the situation, including increasing the number of phone lines.
But it added: “The recruitment of GPs is incredibly difficult in Fife, as it is elsewhere.”
‘NHS Fife have got to start being honest with people’
Alistair McIntosh, chairman of Torryburn and Newmills Community Council, says many people have been left “very frightened” about their health.
“There are a large number of very upset people in our villages who find it impossible to get a doctor’s appointment in a surgery which has no doctors,” he said.
Data obtained by Mr McIntosh shows that since January, two GPs work part time at the practice, which has 4,126 patients.
He added: “We do not want any deaths in our villages as a result of a system that does not work and has not worked for a long time.”
Meanwhile, Clare Short, of Culross Community Council, has been seeking answers since before Christmas without success.
She said: “I feel it’s only a matter of time before something really bad happens, if it hasn’t already.
“If it doesn’t happen, it will be an absolute miracle.
“I feel NHS Fife think the less they say about it, the better.
“They’ve got to start being honest with people if there is a problem but they’re refusing to communicate.
“I’m not letting them off the hook. The people who live here deserve to know what’s going on.”
‘Scandal that communities are being ignored’
Labour MSP Alex Rowley has asked Health Secretary Humza Yousaf for a meeting to discuss the concerns.
He said: “I understand that there is a GP shortage, but I agree with the community councils that NHS Fife is failing to explain what the underlying reasons are for such a poor service in these communities.
“More importantly, NHS Fife seems to have no plans for improvement or any answers on how to address the crisis.”
And local Labour councillor Graeme Downie says it is a “scandal that the communities in West Fife are being ignored”.
He said: “We need an urgent solution to the situation at Valleyfield surgery which has been going on since long before the pandemic.
“It is simply not good enough that people cannot get seen by a doctor or even have their call answered.”
What does NHS Fife say?
Dr Helen Hellewell, associate medical director of Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, confirmed a national GP shortage is making recruitment difficult across the country.
She said: “We have been working for some time to recruit additional GPs for Valleyfield Medical Practice.
“However, despite significant efforts, we have not yet been able to make any permanent appointments.”
The efforts to recruit permanent medical staff at the Fife GP practice is continuing.
“We are committed to improving the local healthcare provision available to patients in Valleyfield.”
Helen Hellewell, Fife Health and Social Care Partnership.
But in the meantime, the practice is staffed by salaried and locum GPs.
Dr Hellewell said they are supported by advanced nurse practitioners, practice pharmacists, physiotherapy staff and mental health nursing.
“A number of actions have already been taken to ensure patients have access to services,” she said.
These include changes to the appointment system and arrangements for ordering repeat prescriptions.
And she added: “We are committed to improving the local healthcare provision available to patients in Valleyfield in the medium and longer term and we are exploring a range of measures to enable us to do that.”
Regarding the phone system, Dr Hellewell said: “We acknowledge there have been issues in the past for patients calling the practice by phone.
“To help alleviate this, the telecommunications system was upgraded and the number of phone lines increased to provide practice staff with greater capacity to respond to patient phone calls.
“The practice has also changed its process for ordering repeat prescriptions to bring these into line with best practice and provide more capacity for over-the-phone triage.”
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