HEALTH bosses tonight faced questioning by City of York councillors over the use of a phone system which left patients on hold for hours to make GP appointments.

The “online triage” system adopted at Unity Health’s Kimberlow Hill surgery led to a series of complaints from patients who said they were unable to get through to the reception, and even had to take taxis to and from the surgery so they could make an appointment in person.

Following an apology and the suspension of the scheme, Unity Health bosses appeared before the council’s Health Scrutiny Committee last night, to look at what went wrong and what lessons have been learned.

Representatives from Unity health appeared before the committee at the council’s West Offices and said the problems with the system had been unexpected, but were dealt with as quickly as possible.

Dr Richard Wilcox, a partner at the surgery, said the system was not untested and was in place in other locations around the country. In terms of rolling out and getting started, they had believed the system would be fit for purpose.

He added: “I think it was a relatively new system. I would say that from our point of view, we were naive in how the system would perform for us.”

Dr Wilcox said there was no specific backup telephone system in place in case the new service did not work, and the practice had undergone a transformation which left it under pressure, to the point where problems with the phone service and lack of staff meant professional call handlers had to be brought in to reduce call waiting times.

He said: “We have not performed as well as we would like.

“I can only say we are very sorry about that, that was not our intention.”

The meeting also heard from one patient who criticised the online triage, and said he had been forced to fill out “four or five applications” before he was able to book an appointment.

Dr Wilcox said this system meant patients could be directed to the practitioner best suited to deal with their complaint, said there had been “many positive elements” to the feedback received about it, as well as the negative responses.

He said the triage system had been set up to help deal with “unprecedented demand” on the health services, and as this demand was only likely to increase, the suspended triage system could be brought back in another form.

Dr Wilcox said: “I do not think the present triage system is coming back. Triage, however, is an integral part of going forward in the development of NHS services.

“I’m not trying to hide behind what’s happened with the telephone system. There were other issues which we are addressing and continue to do this.”