Concerns have been raised over access to health services amid reports that it has become increasingly difficult to get a dental appointment or see a pharmacist.

The difficulties were highlighted by the Wellington Medical Centre Patient Group, a collection of volunteers who meet to discuss NHS services in the area.

John Cutting, the group's Vice Chair, said: "If you go down to the medical centre and look at the distribution of GPs and salaried doctors it’s starting to tilt toward salaried doctors. 

"If you look at the hours they are working the GPs are cutting down. Some of them are working 12 hours a day.

"We can’t find a pharmacist in the town. You go to the dentists and you get to the situation where there’s no trained dentists working in the NHS, they’ve all gone private because the contracts won’t pay them enough. 

"Not enough money has gone into training to ensure there is sufficient staff."

Mr Cutting also expressed concern that the problem would be worsened by the prospect of Taunton residents being directed toward Wellington surgeries.

He said: "It’ll take longer to get an appointment. The new estate at Galmington, a lot of the people there will be directed towards Wellington for their doctors. 

"NHS Somerset can do everything they can with the money they’ve got but they can’t work miracles if they don’t get the money and haven’t got the trained staff."

In a statement, NHS Somerset, the organisation responsible for delivering local health services, said: "NHS Somerset recognises the unprecedented level of demand on primary care at this time, alongside the national clinical workforce shortage which is unavoidably experienced at a local level.

"We are working closely with all key stakeholders to ensure that there is adequate provision of healthcare services for the Wellington community and continue to explore opportunities to improve and develop primary care services within that area of the county.

"The experiences of patients are incredibly important to NHS Somerset, and we take patient concerns seriously. The views of patients are carefully considered when supporting existing services and indeed in the planning of future primary care resources.

“We are working with general practice and community pharmacy to support access for patients and extending the role of community pharmacy for the benefit of patients.”

The patient group's complaints come amid an NHS backlog that saw a Wellington foster carer forced to travel to Bristol last month for a child's dental care.

Foster carer Emma Lloyd told ITV West Country: “I've got a child that I take to Bristol for his dentistry, which is not acceptable because it means taking him out of school for a whole day. 

“I've got another child that I used to have to take to Devon. That was the nearest place I could find. Another one - Bridgwater.

In February, the MP representing Wellington, Rebecca Pow, met with the government's Health Minister, Maria Caulfield, to highlight the difficulties many residents are facing accessing dental care. 

Ms Pow said: “I have been contacted by many residents who are unable to access an NHS dentist. I appreciate that dental services have been impacted by the pandemic, however, I made it clear to the Minister that this situation needs to be improved.

“I welcome the £50 million of extra funding that Government has recently announced across England to support 350,000 additional dental appointments, with £4.7 million being allocated to the South-West region."

When the Wellington Weekly reached out to local dentists last month, none were taking on NHS patients.