A patient at the Maple Healthcare Centre in Lisnaskea has called on the practice to be “overhauled” and has said it is not the Maple Healthcare she has known for 30 years.

The healthcare centre has been plagued with issues with some complaining about the length of time they have to wait for a phone call to be answered, the long waits for callbacks and the difficulty in getting to see a doctor.

Two Fermanagh and Omagh District councillors have also said they have been contacted by patients about the delays and issues.

Trying to speak to a doctor

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of her difficulties in trying to speak to a doctor who was familiar with her and when she did eventually speak to someone she felt she did not get the help she needed.

“I have a long, complex medical history including cancer. But saying that I don’t run to the doctor on a whim or a niggle,” the woman explained.

“I don’t even mind these phone consultations as sometimes I just need a sinus medication or a cream and don’t want to sit in a waiting room for an hour.

“I rang Maple Healthcare recently and spent an hour trying to get through, being told every minute that I was next in line when I was clearly not! That firstly is very disappointing and the credibility is not good.”

The woman said when she eventually spoke to a receptionist they said she must have a phone consultation.

“I needed to speak to one of three doctors who are familiar with me, who know my history and medication, who don’t need to spend an hour just going through my notes before or during our consultation. In other words, I needed continuity of care. This is now non-existent within Maple Group!

“This GP didn’t give me the help I needed, for no other reason than they didn’t know or understand me.”

The Maple Healthcare patient said the experience left her “completely disheartened”.

“I feel like I don’t matter, that medically no one has my back and I’m fighting for everything all the time on my own. This is not the Maple Healthcare that I’ve known for 30 years.

“It needs to be overhauled now before it’s too late.”

Set up a meeting

Erne East councillors, Sheamus Greene of Sinn Féin and Independent Eamon Keenan have both received large numbers of calls from constituents about Maple Healthcare.

Councillor Greene, who has tried to set up a meeting with the healthcare group to try and understand the issues and see what he can do to help, believes it is one of the biggest issues he has had in his 11 years as a councillor.

“Sinn Féin has made numerous attempts over the last 12 months to try and get a meeting organised with Maple Healthcare group with really no success.

“My reason for contacting them to understand and see if there is anything I can do in my part as an elected rep to try and make it better

“If they won’t communicate I don’t know where I am supposed to go. It is getting to be an unbearable situation. I am getting it every day of the week, with people contacting me.

“It’s probably one of the biggest issues I have had in my 11 years as a councillor.

“People aren’t trying to ring the doctor and putting in hours if they don’t genuinely think they need to contact the doctor. That’s not fun for them, it’s very stressful.”

Online event

Councillor Keenan has organised an online event for the local community on Monday, June 14 so they can air their views on the situation.

“People are having issues ringing to make appointments, phones are not being answered or they are told they will get a call back within a few days and not called back for maybe a week or more and they can’t get an appointment for two or three weeks and it ends up they go to the out of hours in SWAH.

“The meeting is to get their stories across and get a clear picture of what is happening. There is a range of different complaints.”

Both Councillors feel that the Covid-19 pandemic is being used as an excuse for the issues but say these issues have been here before the pandemic struck.

“They are sort of blaming Covid but it’s been going on in Lisnaskea surgery before Covid. It’s happened since the Rosslea surgery was closed two or three years ago. In my opinion, they took on an extra 1,500 patients and just can’t cope,” alleged Councillor Keenan.

“Covid is being used as an excuse but this predates Covid,” added Councillor Greene.