Poll shows service levels at the borough’s surgeries differs

At some doctor’s surgeries you can’t get anyone on the phone, it is hard to see a �doctor quickly and the waiting rooms are dirty and �uncomfortable. While at others you receive a service way above the national average.

That is the view of GP �surgery patients in Brent, �according to figures by pollsters MORI and �revealed at a council health scrutiny committee last week.

More than half of patients at Hazeldene Medical Centre in Wyld Way, Wembley, found it difficult to see a doctor, and one in five couldn’t get through on the phone to Willesden Medical Centre, High Road, Willesden.

At Sheldon Practice in Chichele Road, Kilburn, 97 per cent were able to see a doctor quickly, and at Preston Medical Centre, Preston Road, Wembley, the majority found it easy to get someone the phone.

There was also a big difference in patient comfort between surgeries.

Willesden Councillor Ann Hunter, vice-chair of the health committee has demanded answers.

She said: “It is sad to see that some residents are getting a much poorer deal than others.”

NHS Brent launched an initiative last year to improve services in all 71 surgeries in the borough following poor results in 2009.

A spokesman for NHS Brent said: “This particular survey was sent out in early January 2011, and as such does not reflect much of the continuing work of the ACE programme.”