HEALTH chiefs claims that patients’ health has not suffered as a result of problems at five Swindon GP surgeries has been thrown into doubt.

The surgeries run by Manchester-based firm Integral Medical Holdings have been hit by problems. Patients have complained of problems arranging appointments and waiting times, as new systems mean patients are put through to a central call centre rather than individual surgeries.

At a public meeting held by Labour’s North Swindon parliamentary candidate Kate Linnegar, one Great Western Hospital worker questioned claims by NHS bosses that the problems at IMH had not resulted in patients becoming more unwell.

She said that a month ago one of her patients had struggled to book an appointment at their GP practice, before eventually ending up at Great Western Hospital several days later needing emergency surgery.

She told the meeting: “I’m not saying if they had seen a doctor several days earlier they wouldn’t have had the surgery. But they have struggled with pain for several days.”

Just days before, Gill May, executive nurse at the Swindon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for overseeing GP care in the town, told borough councillors: “No patient has come to any harm that includes people who have been to the emergency dept because they’ve got fed up waiting.”

Swindon CCG did not respond to the Advertiser’s queries about what research they had done to substantiate that claim. Neither did they explain what due diligence had been done by the CCG prior to IMH taking on the surgeries.

Instead, a spokesman for the NHS body said: “At both a national and local level, demand for primary care has never been greater, which is why GP practices are looking at new ways of working – such as coming together in partnership with neighbouring surgeries, as has happened in Swindon – to offer patients more services and an overall improved experience.

“We fully accept the changes introduced by IMH have taken longer to become embedded than anybody would have liked, but we remain supportive of the long-term view that it will bring many future benefits, and we continue to monitor performance while supporting our primary care colleagues to overcome these current issues as quickly as possible.

“We would encourage any patient who has been affected by the changes to contact our Patient Advice and Complaints team, not only so we can investigate but so we can better understand what needs to be done to make things better for the future.”

Kate Linnegar, who organised Thursday night’s public meeting, praised staff at the practices but launched into the bosses responsible for the GP mergers: “We should be able to rely on the NHS to look after us and we obviously can’t.”

Bazil Solomon, an Eldene parish councillor who regularly uses the Eldene Surgery after a heart operation this year, said the situation shocked him: “It’s diabolical. The very people destroying a lot of it are the people running campaigns saying how they’re improving it.”

At a council health scrutiny committee meeting last week, Haydon Wick ward councillor Oliver Donachie raised concerns over the impact on patients of the mergers. He told the CCG’s Gill May: “I am not a medical man and I note you say no harm has been done. I can tell you a number of residents in my ward have experienced significant emotional distress. I’m not sure they’re seeing any improvement.”