A DEPRESSED father seeking help from his GP says he dialled the number for his surgery 215 times in 20 minutes before getting an answer - only to be told he could not get an appointment.

Dan Futcher, 49, from Stanway, was advised to contact Ambrose Surgery, in Prettygate, Colchester, as soon as the practice opened at 8am on Tuesday to book an appointment with his doctor.

Mr Futcher says he has suffered from depression and anxiety since 2012 and wanted to speak to someone who knows his situation.

After making his first call at 8am, he continued to redial 215 times before the phone was answered at 8.26am.

He said: “I was told all appointments for the day had gone, I asked what I could do, and was told to phone again on Thursday morning and try again or go to the surgery at 8am and try to get an appointment directly.

“It is regarding an on-going problem I had over the last eight years - it got exponentially worse because of the situation I have been put through. I had started feeling depressed again and needed to see a doctor.

“I have one at the surgery who knows that situation, and she is the one I want to talk to.”

Mr Futcher has struggled with mental health issues since losing his job and his partner eight years ago.

He added: “I felt let down.

“It is annoying to sit through 20 minutes of constant redialling, trying to get through, trying to ask for help.

“I just want to receive some help and to speak to a doctor who knows my problems and my past.

“I am in a dark place and it is getting darker.

“If I get told to phone a crisis helpline, I am unsure as these are people I don’t know.

“I suppose I will have to wait until 8am tomorrow morning and try all over again.”

Mr Futcher voiced his concern that with the population of Colchester increasing and more housing developments being approved, the pressure on surgeries will only grow.

“These problems will surely only get worse,” he said.

“The population has got to increase in the area, but the services don’t increase with it,” he said.

“With all these new houses being built around here I don’t know how services like doctors surgeries and the police will cope.”

Sharon Kendall, practice manager at Ambrose Avenue Group Practice, said the surgery offered a minimum of 160 GP appointments every day.

“8am is our busiest time for taking calls,” she said.

“We have reception staff manning front desk at both our sites and staff taking calls as quickly as they can.

“If our telephone lines are exceptionally busy we have admin staff that also help to take calls during our busy periods.

“We never turn away requests for an appointment if the patient deems their problem to be an emergency that needs to be seen that day.

“If the patient advises their problem is urgent they will be offered either a telephone call or an appointment with one of our emergency team who will assess the problem and offer advice accordingly.”

She added: “We are aware that a patient has tried to contact the surgery by telephone and after numerous attempts has spoken to a receptionist only to be advised no routine appointments are available.

“Firstly we apologise for any distress this may have caused.

“Had I, as practice manager been made aware of this at the time I would have had a conversation with the patient to try and help if I could.

“In a situation such as this if the patient advises that the problem is urgent and needs to be seen that day then an appointment would be made with our emergency team.

“We never turn away a patient who requests an emergency appointment for that day.

“I do not feel that we are isolated with this type of problem. There are currently many workload pressures affecting general practice and all of our dedicated staff are working extremely hard.

“We do offer alternatives for booking appointments such as our online booking service which gives freedom for the patient to book at any time of night and day.

“As a surgery we never take complaints lightly and always hope to resolve issues to ensure the patient has received the best possible care.”