Robert Charles is backing a demand from medics who were on duty this Bank Holiday. They say lives were put at risk because of people's stupidity.

FAMILY doctors say that lives are being put at risk because of time wasters.

And they are appealing to patients not to make unnecessary calls which are stretching Swindon's out-of-hours emergency service.

On Bank Holiday Monday alone, doctors providing medical cover in the town were flooded with 203 calls - and only 40 concerned emergency situations.

After surgeries close, out-of-hours emergencies in the town are dealt with by a co-operative of up to five doctors from different practices, who work on a rota system.

Chairman of the Swindon Medical Committee, Dr Peter Swinyard, who represents GPs in the town, said: "People are using it as an alternative to normal surgery, because they will usually get to see a doctor straight away.

"They really are abusing the system, which should be there for emergency purposes only.

"Many times I have had someone calling up because they did not want to wait for an appointment and thought they would get seen faster by calling the emergency line. I tend to be rather abrupt with them, but not all doctors will."

Robert Charles, managing director of Medic Link, which runs the GP co-operative in the town, said: "We receive a significant number of calls from people who should know better.

"On bank holidays, we always get dozens of calls from people who have run out of medicine. It just needs a bit of prior planning to ensure it does not happen.

"The other thing that tends to annoy doctors is when people have had an illness for a week or so but call in the evening, when there are just a handful of doctors available, instead of 80 or so during the day."

He said that doctors have been contacted with ridiculous queries such as that from a mother who said that her baby had been crying for five minutes.

Another caller asked for advice on having her belly button pierced and another called for a shoulder to cry on after the death of her gerbil.

The problem has also reached a peak in Wootton Bassett. Dr Kerry Davis was called on to deal with 22 calls on bank holiday Monday alone, only one of which required immediate medical attention.

Under new GP contracts being discussed, out-of-hours service which deals with 35,000 calls a year could fall to the Primary Care Trust, which will be responsible for employing doctors to do the work. Under consideration are plans to make greater use of nurses or paramedics to ease the pressure on GPs.

The Swindon GP Co-Operative was originally formed in 1994 with 28 members but since August 1996 has been operated by Medic-Link Limited.