A “dossier of patient concerns” is to be presented to an Angus medical centre’s practice manager after it emerged patients are still unable to get an appointment with their doctor.
Kirstene Hair, Scottish Conservative MP for Angus, has sought a meeting with Diane Meek of the Academy Medical Centre in Forfar.
The politician is seeking answers as to why patients are unable to get appointments with their doctors and to understand what steps are needed to improve service at the practice.
Last October, all three of the town’s GP surgeries closed their “lists” or patient rolls to new applications for six months.
This stopped patients from applying to move GP unless there were “significant circumstances.”
Following a change in staffing the Academy Medical Centre, Lour Road Group Practice and Ravenswood Surgery opened their lists to new registrations on May 1 this year.
However, following continued complaints from constituents about the GP service in the town, Ms Hair is hoping to arrange a meeting with Mrs Meek following testimony from constituents they are still unable to get an appointment with a doctor.
She intends to present what has been described as a dossier of patient concerns over primary care to the practice manager.
In a letter to Forfar residents to gather further resident experiences Ms Hair wrote: “The fact all surgeries in Forfar were forced to shut their lists to new patients for six months was an entirely unacceptable situation.
“To ensure the concerns of my constituents received the full attention of the Scottish Government, I wrote directly to Ms Jeane Freeman MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, around this issue and urged for action to be taken.
“In her response Ms Freeman regrettably refused to acknowledge the extent of the problem individuals face obtaining a GP and the strain our GP services are under.
“For this reason, I have sought a meeting with the practice manager of Academy Street Medical Centre, to both raise your concerns, get answers to any questions you have, and to discuss what can be done to improve the kind of service patients receive.”
Forfar was previously at the centre of plans for a ‘super-surgery’ merger involving Academy Medical Centre and Ravenswood which would have created Scotland’s largest GP practice, but they were shelved in 2016.
According to the practice website it is one of the largest GP practices in Tayside, with approximately 10,000 patients on its list.
When contacted about a possible meeting, Mrs Meek would give “no comment.”
