Patient forced to call 213 times for appointment at Coventry GP

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Many have been waiting months to see a doctor at Woodside Medical Centre in Tile Hill



Residents have expressed their fury after encountering "ridiculous" waiting times at a Coventry GP. Patients at Woodside Medical Centre in Tile Hill have been forced to call hundreds of times in the space of an hour to be frustratingly told that all GP appointments are booked.

Many have been left feeling stressed and anxious with medical conditions they say the GP practice is failing to acknowledge. Some have even said they would rather "suffer" with their illnesses rather than have the constant worry of having to ring the GP.

Patients said they have been left without medication which has exacerbated their existing medical conditions. Current waiting times are said to be worse than during the height of the pandemic, they claim.

Mum-of-three Patrycja Bogdan, 30, told CoventryLive : “I had a serious urine infection. I was in so much pain. I have been trying to get an appointment for weeks.

"I rang at 8.30am and they said that they were fully booked. It is constant.

“I told them that I am really in pain, I really need some painkillers, I really need some antibiotics. I had a high temperature for three days and they told me to call back tomorrow morning.

"I was so annoyed. I wanted to shout, swear, but if you do they will remove you from the waiting list.”

She added: “It is so annoying when they say we are fully booked. When you finally get to the front of the queue, they say ‘unfortunately we are fully booked’, so you are wasting your time literally an hour staying on the phone trying to get in touch.”

Woodside Medical Centre said that demand for appointments has significantly increased in recent times. Bosses claim that they have offered nine per cent more appointments compared to the same period last year.

Patrycja explained that the stress of not being able to get an appointment has exacerbated her existing health problems. “I have tried over and over to get in touch with the doctor for a blood test form, and I could not, so I was without my thyroid medication for three months, and that has caused high blood pressure now and a pain in my chest," she said.

"It was really awful. It is ridiculous what is going on at this GP. I want to be healthy for my kids, but I am stressed, I cannot get hold of my medication, I cannot get a blood test. It makes me absolutely stressed and nervous and that affects my kids because I am literally shaking inside when I cannot continue my medication.”

Patrycja added: “I cannot always ring at 8am in the morning because I have to get my kids ready for school and I have a baby as well so it is not that easy to phone the GP and make sure my kids are ready for school and dressed. It is absolutely ridiculous.”

Another woman, aged 56, who has been a patient at the GP for 45 years, said she has experienced similar issues with the local practice and has been left 'stressed' after multiple encounters which saw her unable to gain an appointment day after day.

She said: “I have got a lot of health issues. I have been with the GP since I was a child, I am in my 50s now, and I have had the same doctor for so many years. It is now impossible to see the doctor or even to speak to your own doctor.

“It is so stressful. I am putting up with being ill because the other day I phoned up 213 times and still could not get an appointment. When you do get through, the receptionist said 'You need to phone at 8am' and I said well 'What do you think I have been doing? I have been phoning since 8am and I have only just got through now'.

"I am on the phone at 7.59am ready for 8am. If you are not through to them by 8.15am or 8.20am by the latest all appointments are gone and you have to phone again in the morning and the stress of doing it, you would rather not do it, you would rather be ill and just try to cope.”

Receptionists are said to refer patients to the Walk-In Centre or advise them to call 111 to receive medical assistance.

Having been at the GP for 45 years, the unnamed woman said she believes the practice has "taken on too many patients" and struggles to cope with demand.

Other elderly residents who live nearby are said to sometimes be "nearly in tears" due to the stress of being refused appointments at the GP.