Woman 'let down' by lack of GP appointments
Julie Ray developed a painful rash around her eye, but was told by Didcot Health Centre there were no appointments available
- Published
A Didcot resident has described feeling let down after struggling to get an in-person GP appointment and then being misdiagnosed.
Julie Ray said she developed a painful rash around her eye, but was told by Didcot Health Centre there were no appointments available.
She was among those who got in touch with the BBC, some via Your Voice, Your Vote, to raise concerns about difficulties accessing GP services.
A manager at Didcot Health Centre said the situation was "likely to remain challenging" until a new practice opens.
Provision for a new GP surgery was included in plans for Great Western Park, first given planning permission in 2008.
When she was told no appointments were available, Mrs Ray called 111 and then had a telephone call with her GP, who prescribed antibiotics after seeing photos of her rash.
She decided to go to Oxford Eye Hospital to be seen in person, where a doctor told her she had shingles and instead needed antivirals.
"I said to my husband I think we should just set up a Facebook page for self-help in Didcot or something," Mrs Ray said.
"Everyone raid their own supply of medicines and diagnose ourselves.
“It really felt like there wasn't a proper service."
Residents at Great Western Park in Didcot still have no GP surgery even though plans for it were approved 14 years ago
Didcot Health Centre said it was bound to respect patient confidentiality so could not respond to the specific complaint.
But practice manager Jonathan Gayther said that, like other practices in Didcot and Abingdon, the surgery was “facing the challenges of dealing with a growing local population while struggling to recruit sufficient numbers of GPs”.
“We have spoken to the local MP and have worked with our counterparts in the other practices in Didcot but the situation is likely to remain challenging until a fully staffed and functioning fourth practice is established in Didcot," he said.
The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & West Berkshire Integrated Care Board said it had "approved the business case" and agreed to provide additional funding for the new surgery.
But the site still needs to be transferred from the developer, and planning permission and leases need to be agreed, before building can start.
What do the candidates say?
Green candidate Sam Casey-Rerhaye said that residents in Didcot should not have been left waiting so long for a new surgery.
She said: “We would streamline the current long-winded and slow funding system via housing developers for new surgeries, so that GPs are provided earlier, as houses are built.”
Labour candidate Mocky Khan said it was an issue he has been campaigning on.
He said: “I will fight for a minor injuries unit at Didcot Community Hospital and demand the building of more doctors' surgeries, to ensure we get the services that our towns and villages deserve.”
Conservative candidate David Johnston said his party has taken action to increase the availability of appointments – and that the issue in Didcot & Wantage was not down to government inaction.
He said: “We’ve actually got 50 million more GP appointments since 2019. But we need, at a local level, local councils and local health leaders to deliver the things they’ve promised.”
Lib Dem candidate Olly Glover said he would continue to push for progress on the issue.
He said: “If elected, within two months I’ll get all the parties around the table, thrash things out, agree the timelines for progress and how we’re going to communicate with residents.”
We also asked Reform UK candidate Steve Beatty and Social Democratic Party candidate Kyn Pomlett for their response to the problem of accessing GP services in Didcot, but did not hear back.
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