A SICK pensioner in Ringwood was left waiting five and-a-half hours with breathing difficulties before being seen by a doctor from Blackpool.

The doctor was covering the new out-of-hours service in Ringwood and Fordingbridge and made a 520-mile round trip to treat 77-year-old Doris because no other GP was available.

Wendy Thomas (40), from Ringwood, urgently needed a doctor for her mother, whose chest infection deteriorated rapidly on Saturday, July 31.

Her phone call was diverted from Cornerways Surgery in Poulner to a call centre in the Midlands.

She was horrified when the GP arrived, five-and-a-half hours after her phone call.

Wendy fumed: "It is frightening. To think this scheme will be going nationwide by October 1, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

"People are potentially being left with potentially serious illnesses and infections without being seen promptly by a doctor.

"My mother could have been suffering a heart attack and we were left for hours."

She said: "We should just pay our doctors more money rather than pay for European doctors to serve on this ludicrous service. It is atrocious.

"We have been let down by the government."

Wendy is not alone in her concerns about the New Forest Primary Care Trust service that was launched on July 1 and which takes night and weekend duties away from GPs to the trusts. Other patients in Ringwood and Poulner claim the service is "failing" them.

A ninety-two-year-old woman from Ashley Heath waited a total of 13 hours for a doctor on Saturday, July 17 after her daughter called the out-of-hours service.

The doctor arrived eight hours after the call, not knowing where Ringwood was, and treated her.

Worryingly her condition worsened the following day and it took yet another five hours for her to be seen for the second time.

District councillor Ann Warman was contacted by family member Clive Brown claiming his family had been treated with indifference and lack of concern. Cllr Warman said: "I feel that this incompetence and inefficiency cannot be allowed to continue and we ought to go back to the former D-Doc scheme."

Just last week, a Ringwood Health Centre patient, who did not wish to be named, contacted the service after suffering tonsillitis.

She made the call to the national centre at 8am but still had not heard back from them five hours later.

"Eventually I registered myself as a temporary resident at my mother's home in Christchurch.

"I saw a doctor and was prescribed antibiotics within 30 minutes. There will be chaos throughout the country when the scheme is implemented for all health centre's by October 1.

"It is frightening. Sick people are being left to wait and for the very young and elderly these hours could be vital."

Now New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne is calling a meeting with trust bosses after receiving a series of complaints since the scheme began six weeks ago.

A PCT spokeswoman confirmed that there had been "teething problems" in establishing the out of hours service but the service was being closely monitored.

She said: "We have been reviewing call handling arrangements during weekends in conjunction with Primecare, our specialist provider.

"As a result there have been some changes to shift patterns to better meet demands at peak times."

"I would like to reassure local patients that all of the calls to the out of hours service are handled by experienced healthcare professionals and are prioritised in line with clinical need."

She added: "Anyone who needs to see a doctor will be seen as appropriate."

Ringwood Health Centre practice manager, Stephen Antill said: "The service has been in place for six weeks since July 1 and it is something new.

The New Forest primary care trust has taken on the responsibility of the service and any patient complaint must go to the PCT."