Patients impacted by out-of-bounds room at Forest Gate GP surgery, staff say
Exposed pipework in the affected clinical room at the surgery - Credit: Archant
A doctor’s surgery is seeing up to 100 fewer patients a day than it could due to a clinical room being out of service for months, staff have alleged.
Exposed pipework in the affected clinical room at the surgery - Credit: Archant
Mitchell Crotch, operations manager at Dr. Driver & Partners, Lord Lister Health Centre in Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, said employees have had to limit or even cancel clinics at short notice because of a lack of space to treat patients.
The disused room has sat dormant since September because of damp caused by a hole in the plasterboard. More recent problems include damaged blinds and a broken door handle.
Landlord NHS Property Services were immediately alerted to the hole by employees after they noticed the damp, caused by an workman earlier in the year who had placed duct tape over the hole and then painted over it.
Mr Crotch said everyone at the GP was frustrated at the lack of response from their landlord despite months of calls and emails asking them to act.
Damp has been a problem in the room at the Lord Lister Health Centre - Credit: Mitchell Crotch
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He said: “If that room was usable, we would be able to see a lot more patients.
“This company does not care about how many people we can see. They are just think about taking money and what can they do about it.”
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Dr. Driver & Partners has 7,000 patients on its list and can see up to 250 individuals in one day depending on how many rooms are available.
When staff have had to use the room on occasion as a last resort, the experience has been unsatisfactory, Mr Crotch said.
“When you have a patient go into a room, you want them to feel nice and safe,” he explained.
“When you go into that room it doesn’t feel clean.”
The employee added that it was “worse for the patients” than for staff as they were probably wondering what else was going on in the surgery as a result of the poor conditions.
He added: “It probably reflects badly on us rather than anyone else.”
A spokesman for NHS Property Services said: “We are sorry for the delay in resolving these issues and we are committed to putting them right as soon as possible.
“We are in contact with the practice and are arranging for the necessary work to be carried out in the next two weeks.”
