People phoning their doctor’s surgery in East Ayrshire may find themselves diverted to a central call handling service, as GPs report a leap in calls from around 150 a day to more than 500.

East Ayrshire health and social care partnership says primary care services are under significant pressure, with GP practices in particular trying to manage “ever increasing demand”.

In a statement, the director of the East Ayrshire health and social care partnership, Craig McArthur, says practice teams are doing their 'very best' to answer every call but, when they can’t, he is appealing for people to be patient and treat staff with respect.

Mr McArthur says GP practices across the region remain open despite experiencing staff shortages as covid-19 rates in the community reach their highest ever.

He says staff are trying to cope with unprecedented levels of need from people who are unwell:

“They are experiencing a significant increase in people contacting the practice on a daily basis with a large proportion of patients requiring face to face appointments.

"In some instances this has gone from 150 calls a day before the pandemic to now sometimes in excess of 500 a day.

“The knock on effect of the pandemic, and reduction in other services, means people are turning to their local GP practices in greater numbers to manage their condition,” the director says, adding:

“Practice staff are prioritising those in most clinical need for urgent on the day presentations.”

East Ayrshire health and social care partnership says practices are now being supported by the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service – but is reassuring patients that they will be able to see someone in their own GP practice if they need to.

“During high periods of demand,” Mr McArthur says in his statement, “patients phoning their GP practice may now have their call re-directed to a central call handling service at the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service for advice and support. This will allow GP practices to focus on caring for those patients most in need.”

A source within the doctors’ organisation, BMA Scotland, said they knew about the situation in East Ayrshire but were not aware of the same approach being taken elsewhere in Scotland.

Read more: A&E call-ahead reforms having “no impact; ‘Many worrying gaps’ in NHS recovery plan; GP MSP: Patient pathways increasingly ‘broken’

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