A senior GP at an under-fire doctors' surgery has defended the practice in the face of a barrage of complaints over changes forced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Alastair Gould has spoken out as patients at Newton Place in Faversham continue to raise grievances about a number of issues, including a reduction in face-to-face appointments, delays to repeat prescriptions and long waits for phone calls to be answered.

The revised working practices are similar to those seen at GP surgeries across Kent.

Dr Gould says many of the changes have been forced by the government and led by NHS guidelines to limit the risk of spreading coronavirus.

“Naturally, the impact of the guidelines on our working practices is not always clear to patients and it may be helpful to fill in some of the background,” he said.

Like most surgeries, Newton Place - which has 19,000 patients on its books - has introduced telephone consultations to cut down on the number of people attending the practice.

As a result, it is receiving more than 1,800 calls a week, and on some days 54 an hour.

“Naturally, then, there will be delays," Dr Gould said. "But we are looking to install more phone lines, which would help to alleviate the problem.

“If our clinicians feel they need to see a particular patient, they will invite them to attend the surgery - following Covid-19 guidelines, of course.”

To free up space on the phone lines, patients who are able can instead complete an eConsult form via the surgery website, explaining their ailment.

Repeat prescription requests - of which there are more than 500 a day - can also be made remotely, by emailing newton.prescriptions@nhs.net.

Dr Gould says the surgery hopes to deliver prescriptions within four days, but given the volume involved admits delays are inevitable.

He says he sympathises with patients finding it confusing and frightening that they cannot simply visit the surgery as they used to.

But he explained: “For the safety of all patients and staff, the number of patients entering the surgery has to be monitored and restricted.

“To help as many patients as quickly and safely as possible, we are using alternative ways where we can, including video and telephone consultations and the use of home blood pressure monitors.

“Covid-19 has affected us all in many different ways and we are aware that some of these changes are difficult to understand and accept - for our staff as well as for patients.

"We have had to adapt and change many of our working practices, but our patients must be assured that we - and that includes clinical and admin staff - continue to have our patients best interests in mind through all these changes.”

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