A YORK GP practice has been accused of 'absolutely unacceptable' behaviour after revealing that it will not – after all - be offering patients any routine appointments until August 17.

A senior York councillor claimed Unity Health's actions were 'potentially life threatening' to thousands of patients at its Kimberlow Hill and Wenlock Terrace surgeries, and a shocked patient said he would be making a formal complaint to the NHS.

The practice had apologised last week for causing distress and confusion after telling patients it wouldn’t be offering routine appointments for almost a month - because it was moving to a new IT system.

It said the message sent was misleading and it would be 'striving to maintain our usual high standard of care to patients' while it moved to a new IT system, adding: "Our clinicians will be available for all our patients as normal and will be working hard to minimise disruption to patient care during this time."

But now a patient, Andrew Mortimer, has received a message from a duty manager, saying: "If you need to book a routine appointment then you'll need to wait until 17th August. If you have a medical concern between now and then, we still have staff on site who are able to triage your query and deliver the appropriate care."

He said he was 'absolutely dismayed' at the actions and attitude of Unity Health, claiming: "They have left thousands of residents in limbo over basic healthcare needs.

"I was ready to accept the apology over what at first seemed to be a communication issue, but having now heard back from them, it’s clear that the apology was nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

“If they are stopping access to primary care, they should at least be honest about it rather than have patients go through more distress trying to chase the truth.  This is simply unacceptable and I will be submitting an official complaint to NHS England.”

Cllr Nigel Ayre, an executive member of City of York Council, said the way Unity Health management was treating their patients was 'absolutely unacceptable.'

He said: "Despite rushed apologies, they clearly have not changed the decision to deny primary care to thousands of York residents. This goes beyond poor communication and is distressing and potentially life threatening.

 “Having raised this issue with local health care colleagues earlier this week, they confirmed that the process of transferring patient records to a new clinical IT system takes no more than 6 to 7 days.

"It’s therefore not only confusing but rather shocking that Unity Health are still refusing routine appointments until after the 17th August."

The Press has been offering Unity Health opportunity to respond to the criticisms and explain its position since last Thursday, but has received no acknowledgement or response.