AN emergency package to improve waiting times for GP appointments in Wellington and beyond has been called for by the local MP.

It comes after new research revealed that since January, 182,811 appointments in Somerset have had waits of over 28 days.

That’s up from 65,230 at the same point five years ago, an increase of 180 per cent, while waits of more than two weeks across the county have increased from 230,617 in 2020 to 546,203 this year, an increase of 137 per cent.

However, MP Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington, Liberal Democrats) has welcomed the recent increase in the number of GPs serving Wellington, with five new GPs having been brought in by Wellington Medical Centre to provide 30 new sessions a week, following Luson Surgery’s closure.

The closure of Luson Surgery, which had 6,500 registered with it, meant that there was now only one medical centre in Wellington. As a result, Wellington Medical Centre expected to see a 40 per cent increase in its own patient list.

Mr Amos called for an emergency package to end the rising wait times by including a strategic fund to reopen surgeries, dedicated local initiatives, as well as introducing a 24/7 GP booking system which would see 111 call handlers trained to become GP receptionists.

He also called on the government to recruit thousands more doctors to ensure that a right to a GP appointment within seven days, or 24 hours if urgent, could be delivered.

The House of Commons Library research, commissioned by Liberal Democrats, found that there has been a 121 per cent increase in patients waiting over 14 days for a GP appointment since the same period in 2020 across England, rising from 19.7 million appointments that took this long to 43.5-million appointments.

There has been a 123 per cent increase for those waiting over 28 days, from 5.8-million five years ago to 12.9-million today.

Mr Amos said: “While our GPs are working increasingly hard, too many residents here in Taunton and Wellington find it really difficult to get an appointment.

“The fact that the number of people waiting over a month has doubled is unacceptable if we are going to get our NHS back to where it should be.

“The appointment of five new GPs at Wellington Medical Centre – following the closure of the town’s Luson Surgery – is welcome but just not enough for our constituency as a whole.

“It follows previous record numbers of two and four week waits under the last Conservative government.

“Together with Liberal Democrat colleagues, I am calling for an emergency package to boost GP services with a dedicated fund to open surgeries, a 24/7 booking system via 111 and both retention and training and recruitment drives to get many more family doctors.

“The government should deliver a right for every patient to be seen within seven days or 24 hours if urgent, so that no one is denied care when they need it.”