A TROWBRIDGE man says his Christmas was ruined as lengthy call-waiting times at Trowbridge Health Centre meant he was unable to get hold of his antidepressants.

Every three months, Mark Jenner, of Linden Place, has been getting a repeat prescription for antidepressants from the health centre, in Seymour Road, to help with his anxiety.

He was caught without medication because the pharmacy there used to send him a text message when he was due a top-up, but since the merger of three GP surgeries in the town last year he now has to ask for the repeat through a computer system he says he did not know about or know how to access.

The 44-year-old then struggled to obtain a prescription or a doctors appointment aid that he only eventually got his medication more than two weeks after he tried to, as it was very hard to get through by phone to organise due to call queues.

“This ruined my Christmas. Trying to get an appointment is nigh on impossible. I have spent countless times just sitting there listening to hold music, but I cannot afford to do that for 40 minutes or more,” he said.

“Eventually when you do speak to someone, I have been told nothing is available and to ring back the day after to see if any appointments become available.

“My antidepressants ran out on December 21 and I called all week before to get them, but no reply. I eventually got them just before the New Year after calling over two weeks. The old prescription system before the merger of the Adcroft, Bradford Road and Widbrook practices was much better. The merger is not working.

“I was not told of the new prescription system so I did not know how to log on to this computer system, so I ran out of medication over Christmas which caused me to have withdrawal symptoms. I eventually got it two weeks after I asked for them.

“I was incredibly busy at work driving coaches around the country and not having the medication just hiked up my anxiety.”

“I think the whole scenario is appalling. People don’t have time to sit about all day on the phone, it just not acceptable, something has to change. I am not the only person responding this way, just look at the negative comments on the health centre’s Facebook page The surgeries merged last year in the hope of improving primary care services for patients in the town.

The health centre’s general manager, Linda Thomas, said: “The NHS as a whole is struggling to meet winter pressures and we are sorry the gentleman involved found it difficult to obtain his prescription. The phone system for the new practice has struggled to meet the demand placed upon it and we are working closely with the phone company to try and rectify this.

“We have already made some progress in making improvements and hopefully will continue to do so over the next few weeks.

“Repeat prescriptions can be obtained either via our online services or in person at the front desk.

“This service can also be set up through the pharmacy of the patients choice and they will order repeat medication on the patients behalf as needed and advise them when it is ready for collection.

“The initial set up of the online service needs to be done in person with photo ID. Details of how to do this are on our website or available in the surgery.”