OUTRAGED GPs were forced to take emergency measures when their phone lines went down for three days.

Staff at Highcliffe Medical Centre say they have been battling with provider BT to get the phone lines back up and running since Tuesday afternoon.

Practice manager Janet Newman said the situation has been particularly concerning due to the high number of elderly and vulnerable patients who use the practice in Lymington Road.

“Many of our patients are elderly and when they are ill they need to be able to get in touch with a doctor,” she added.

While staff at the centre worked to fix the problem the usual 12 phone lines were diverted to the single phone line at the Highcliffe Clinic next door.

“While this is better than no phone lines this has caused major problems for our patients, many of whom have just been getting an engaged tone every time they call,” said Mrs Newman.

“It’s so frustrating because our hands are tied by the service BT provides, which is very poor.”

Staff say they were told by BT that there was a fault on the line and that an engineer would be sent on Wednesday to fix it.

By yesterday morning an engineer had still not arrived at the centre – despite the practice paying extra for a priority contract which means BT should provide a four-hour response time.

Mrs Newman said this is the third time in the last year that the phone lines have gone down at the centre.

“Unfortunately we are stuck in five year contract with BT - and still have three more years to go,” she added.

“We just feel like we are stuck and they are not holding up their side of the agreement, which is to provide us with a working phone service and when it does break fix it quickly.”

Staff say the phone lines were up and running again yesterday following an enquiry to BT from the Echo.

“Surely we should have been a priority without the press getting involved. If they can fix it so easily why did it take them so long,” added Mrs Newman.

Dr Ravin Ramtohal, left, who works at the centre, said: "We have a very vulnerable group of patients and maintaining phone contact with them is essential.

“For example if someone calls in with chest pain then we would advise them to call 999, or make the call for them.

“If they can’t contact us then we have no idea what’s going on and can’t help them.

“I have real concerns that if this continues then patients’ health could be seriously affected.”

Dr Ramtohal said he would be informing the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group of the incident - as he is the clinical lead for Christchurch.

“We have been reassured by BT on a number of occasions that this wouldn’t happen, but then it seems those reassurances meant nothing.

“It’s so frustrating for the staff as we work really hard to provide the best level of care for patients and build up a reputation, which can be destroyed very quickly if these problems continue.”

Patient Robert Taylor, 76, who lives in Smugglers Lane North, Highcliffe, said it was “very worrying”.

“BT should do better especially with a medical centre. They have a responsibility that they haven’t fulfilled.”

"We're sorry..."

Telecommunications company BT have said the problem was caused by the medical centre’s voicemail system and that it was fixed Wednesday morning.

According to a spokesman from BT although he fault was repaired on Wednesday no one from the firm was able to contact the centre to let them know until yesterday.

A statement from BT said: “We are sorry that the customer has experienced problems.

“They appear to have been caused by the customer’s voicemail service, which is used outside normal office hours, becoming stuck on and so incoming calls could not be received.

“We accessed the system remotely to re-set it on Wednesday morning and have confirmed that the system is working normally again. According to our records, a similar issue has arisen twice before and in each case the service was remotely re-set by us the same, or the following day.

“Our technical team will be following up with the customer to ensure that they are aware how to remove the problem if it occurs again.”