GP surgeries in Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge say they are 'working hard' to provide appointments to their patients after staff absences meant patients struggled to get seen by a GP.
Burnham and Berrow Medical Centre posted on their website on Wednesday (August 15) to inform patients they could only deal with emergencies and would not be taking appointments for the rest of the week due to GP sickness.
Highbridge Medical Centre posted a similar warning on their website on August 1 and said the surgery was trying its best to keep appointments running by bringing in locum doctors.
Now both practices have spoken out and said they are working with agencies to try and get additional cover in a bid to minimise delays to patients.
Debbie Hale, management partner at Burnham and Berrow Medical Centre said: “The practice is working hard to minimise disruption for our patients and we hope that things will be back to normal next week.
"We are working with Locum agencies to try to find additional cover and we would like to thank one of our regular locums who gave up a day’s holiday yesterday to help us, which was much appreciated.
"We are still seeing patients with urgent problems and patients who already have booked appointments should attend as usual.
"We continue to book routine appointments further ahead.
"We would like to thank our patients for their understanding during this difficult time.”
A spokesman for Highbridge Medical Centre, said the practice is able to offer emergency and non-emergency appointments to patients and thanked patients for their understanding.
"The practice is working hard to minimise the impact of some short-term staff sickness, but we are aware some patients are experiencing difficulties in accessing a GP appointment," the spokesman said.
“Whilst waits may be slightly longer than normal, we continue to offer both emergency on the day and non-emergency appointments.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and would like to thank patients for their understanding.”
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