A DOCTOR's surgery in Bradford has apologised to patients who were told to wait until July to get a GP appointment.

The apology from Horton Bank Surgery's practice manager Justine Reid came after Telegraph & Argus reader Leanne Gardiner contacted the newspaper to complain.

Ms Gardiner, 26, who works for a heating company, rang the surgery on May 20 worried she had a serious blood circulation problem but was told she could not get an appointment to see a doctor until July 27.

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"I continuously called in the morning for an appointment and in the afternoon to be told there was no appointment and to keep trying on a daily basis. This is not going to help with the delays in hospitals as they are the only other option if you can't get into the doctor's," she said.

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Desperate for a diagnosis, Ms Gardiner rang NHS Choices and was offered an out-of-hours GP appointment at Bradford Royal Infirmary's A&E Department.

"The phone advisor didn't think it was too serious but still offered me an out-of-hours appointment at the hospital. I didn't want to take up a valuable slot so decided to change doctors instead."

Ms Gardiner, of Carr House Road, Shelf, has now registered with a practice in Shelf: "It's further away from home but at least I know I'll be seen if I need an appointment - unlike at Horton Bank. It's peace of mind."

Justine Reid, practice manager at Horton Bank Surgery, said: “We have experienced some issues with pre-bookable appointment availability recently as we have had a full-time GP vacancy at the practice since the start of this year. We have now appointed a new GP who starts at the end of July, but in the meantime we have tried to manage the appointments system using locums and nurse practitioners.

“We recognise fully that this situation is not ideal and would like to apologise to any patients who have been inconvenienced. The practice works on both a pre-bookable and urgent ‘on the day’ appointments system to try to balance patients’ demand for care: but we will always try and see patients with urgent problems on the same day

“We are currently opening on the day appointments at 8am and 2pm when we ask patients call or book online. Most of the appointments released at this time are for the same day or the following day, however, we do offer pre-bookable appointments as well but ask patients to continue to call on the day to see if an appointment becomes available.

“Together with all local practices, we are working with Bradford Districts CCG to help improve access to GP services, but unfortunately there is an ever-increasing local and national demand for GP services. Whenever possible we try and advise patients with minor ailments to go straight to the pharmacy without making a doctor’s appointment.”