Forum Topic

Cloister Road Surgery Fully Booked until 22 Sept & no other options.

This is just NUTS.In the past you could get an appointment in a week or two, fast forward to today and the online system is completely booked until 22nd September, and no Appointments can be made "until we release the next batch of dates."This is no way to run a health service, it is now out of control.Thank you LBE and Planning Department for continuing to sign off Tower after Tower with thousands of new inhabitants with NO consideration whatsoever of the local impact on Doctors and Dentists. Not to mention the Electricity Grid, Gas, Sewerage, etc, etc.Gross Incompetence, Rank Stupidity and "Lack of Duty of Care & Responsibility to Residents" doesn't even come close to describing our Utterly Cretinous Labour Controlled Council and their idiotic "Sign Off Any & All Towers" Policy.And don't give me that utter BS that LBE and their Planning Department are powerless to stop the building of Towers, they can easily stop them if they wanted to.  But LBE under Labour prefers to shaft its residents. I thank you.

Rosco White ● 512d7 Comments

It really is bad knowing if you need urgent medical treatment you have to get down to St Mary's and sit in the queue.Take your own supplies as they charge £1.65 for a small bottle of water. It's the rent Prof Orchard charges.

Martin Cain ● 510d

Au contraire Mr Fairchild, it is you who has missed the key point, these new surgeries are not local to North Acton - you are aware aren't you that Surgeries have defined catchment areas?I am also very well aware of the shortage of GPs and obviously do “properly understand the reasons I can't get an appointment” thank you.  I can but repeat what I thought was my clear point, that the shortage is exasperated and becomes concentrated in North Acton because of the sudden increase in an intolerable number of thousands of new inhabitants swamping the very local infrastructure because of LBE's highly destructive “Towers Policy”.I really do think that your determination to deflect any blame away from Ealing Council IS actually comical.  😂

Rosco White ● 510d

During the Blair/Brown Axis governments, from 1997 to 2010, was it not Health Secretary John Reid who "halved GPs hours and doubled their pay". He was Secretary of State for Health from 2003 to 2005. I do remember soon after this that hospital Accident and Emergency Departments got a lot more busier. Is that not one of the root causes of the problem of the national shortage of GPs?Also Ealing Labour run Council do not inspire much confidence. For seven years they did not keep records of approved legally required annual Authority Monitoring Reports. These are supposed to give up to date housing figures for the borough  and failing to provide them has enabled developers to successfully appeal against planning decisions. Nobody has been held to account for this, nor has any explanation been forthcoming from the council. That does not inspire much confidence in this virtue-signalling Labour run Ealing Council.

Anthony Hawran ● 511d

You have missed the key point - there have been new surgeries. The Acton Gardens Surgery was built with a £3.5mn investment partly funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy. Other projects including upgrades of existing surgeries have been funded this way and project in the pipeline. A big upgrade of the Acton Health Centre is planned.There is no shortage of medical facilities. The reason you can't get an appointment is a shortage of GPs. Britain has the second lowest number of GPs per head in Europe and the problem is particularly acute in London. I haven't traditionally been a Labour voter but will certainly be one at the next general election because of this government allowing this situation to arise. So would you be if you properly understood the reasons you can't get an appointment.

Alan Fairchild ● 511d

During the Blair/Brown Axis governments, from 1997 to 2010, was it not Health Secretary John Reid who "halved GPs hours and doubled their pay". He was Secretary of State for Health from 2003 to 2005. I do remember soon after this that hospital Accident and Emergency Departments got a lot more busier. Is that not one of the root causes of the problem of the national shortage of GPs?Also Ealing Labour run Council do not inspire much confidence. For seven years they did not records of approved legally required annual Authority Monitoring Reports. These are supposed to give up to date housing figures for the borough  and failing to provide them has enabled developers to successfully appeal against planning decisions. Nobody has been held to account for this, nor has any explanation been forthcoming from the council.

Anthony Hawran ● 511d

Your determination to fail to read and comprehend my posting borders on the comical.10,000 or so extra local inhabitants with absolutely NO expansion of or new surgeries doesn't cause problems getting an appointment? Are you alright?  😂But it gets better - ".....there is a good case to be made that the situation would be far worse if these towers weren't being built."  Not a Labour Voter are we? That's the sort of Local Labour Lunacy Logic we have come to expect.  🤣

Rosco White ● 511d

The root cause of the problem is the national shortage of GPs which is something that the current government has been warned about for at least ten years. Poor working conditions, long hours, abusive patients stirred up by 'newspapers' like the Daily Mail has resulted in existing GPs retiring earlier and younger doctors choosing to avoid the role if they haven't moved abroad because of poor pay.At the same time we have a steadily aging population that is causing a sharp rise in the demand for GP services a trend that you may well be a part of.Your determination to blame Ealing Council for absolutely everything borders on the comical. The fact is that they can't refuse developments on the grounds of lack of GP provision if certain criteria are met in terms of the numbers. The community infrastructure levy can be used to fund new surgeries as it has done on Bollo Bridge Road where a state of the art centre has been built. The people moving in to new developments tend to be younger and therefore use medical services rarely therefore there is a good case to be made that the situation would be far worse if these towers weren't being built.

Alan Fairchild ● 511d