A new Carlisle super surgery is taking on an extra doctor after overwhelming demand for its services.

The Brunswick House, St Paul's and North Carlisle surgeries merged into a new super practice, called Carlisle Healthcare, on October 1. Together they serve 38,000 patients across the city.

Dr Craig Melrose, a doctor with the practice, told the News & Star that the surgery’s clinical team has been dealing with 650 to 700 patients every day.

He explained: “Some days the duty doctors have dealt with 140 calls on a day.

“We have managed to recruit a new GP who will start with us on a full-time basis in January.

“This will be the second doctor to join us since we merged. It reassures us that we are moving in the right direction as being able to attract medical and nursing staff going forward is essential to deliver a good service to the community.”

Six new staff have already been taken on to answer calls from patients and the surgery says a new phone system will be installed in the new year.

The surgery has come under severe criticism from patients - many who have only rated it as one star on the NHS website.

Patients are concerned over the length of time they are having to wait to get through on the phone lines, with one woman reporting that she held on for 90 minutes.

Mike Denovellis tried to get an appointment for his two-year-old daughter to have a flu vaccination.

On the NHS website he wrote: “We received a letter at the end of October advising that our two-year-old daughter was due a flu vaccination.

“We phoned up on the day the letter arrived to be told there were no appointments available and to call back the following day. This happened every day for three weeks.

"We finally managed to get an appointment only because my sister-in-law was in the surgery at the time, and was able to book one on our behalf. How is this even possible when we were unable to get one over the phone?"

Mr Denovellis continued: "But on the morning of the appointment we received a phone call to say it had been cancelled due to a lack of stock.

“Don't make appointments if you don't have the stock for goodness sake. It will be next summer before my daughter gets her flu vaccination at this rate. It’s absolutely shambolic.”

Dr Melrose said: “We have undertaken a rapid analysis of the current phone system, the possible fixes and alternatives and we need a new telephone system installed.

“This is likely to be completed in the new year and will finally put us in the position of being able to handle the calls as we had planned to on day one.

“We were given assurances that the current system would work and are very disappointed that it has not.

“The problems with the phone access has led to other aspects of the practice’s work being disrupted, the prescribing team have been under tremendous pressure and are working very hard to keep up with the requests they are receiving.

"New systems and processes are settling and the repeat prescribing process is now working more effectively whilst maintaining safety.”

In a letter to patients seen by the News & Star , Dr Melrose has acknowledged the impact the phone problems have had on the continuity of care and access to doctors.

“We aim to ensure that you will be able to contact the doctor that you know when dealing with ongoing problems, but have access to care from an available member of the clinical team when a problem requires more urgent attention," he writes.

“We made the decision to merge because we wanted to deliver the best service possible and become a more stable and sustainable organisation. Surveys suggest that one in eight practices across the country are considering doing the same.

“We are still sure this is the right approach and that in the very near future our patients will be able to see and feel the benefits, please accept our apologies for the problems experienced over recent weeks and our assurance we are working very hard improve our services to you.”

People with specific prescription queries can call a separate line, 01228 616666, and avoid the main 01228 588121 number completely.

Patients can also register online to be able to use a secure web portal to book appointments in future.