Doctors behind Carlisle’s new super practice have apologised to patients following major problems on its first day.

Carlisle Healthcare – a merger of the Brunswick House, St Paul’s and North Carlisle surgeries – went live yesterday (Monday).

Together they will serve a total of 38,000 patients across the city from the practices’ existing five surgeries.

But patients were left facing lengthy waits after the new phone system was hit by problems, while patient records failed to transfer on to the new joint computer system as planned.

Kathleen Archibald said she had a lengthy wait, and was then told a doctor would ring her back on Friday to make an appointment.

“It’s completely unacceptable. I will be writing to the practice manager. The funny thing is I also rang the repeat prescription answer phone and someone answered that straightaway,” she said.

Dr Alan Edwards, of Carlisle Healthcare, said that despite significant pre-planning, the systems didn’t work as promised.

IT experts drove up from Leeds to try to correct the problems, and it was hoped the phone lines would be working as planned today. The records issues may take slightly longer to resolve.

Dr Edwards said: “We apologise unreservedly to patients who have had difficulty getting through.

“We have instigated crisis talks with our computer supplier who have driven up from Leeds to manage the situation. Telephone engineers are also on site. We are working as hard as we can to get this sorted as quickly as we possibly can.”

He said that despite having call handlers waiting to meet demand and hundreds of appointments set aside, for some reason the calls weren’t being directed to the right areas, resulting in delays.

Meanwhile records have gone missing as they transferred from one system to another but Dr Edwards stressed that there are multiple back ups of patient records, so none will be lost permanently.

He said it was disappointing, particularly as staff have worked so hard behind the scenes for months and they were told the technology would work as soon as the new practice went live.

“All we can do is apologise,” he added.

Among those affected was Dave Miller, of Bowscale Close. He said that despite being told the old numbers would work for some time while the changes bedded in, that wasn’t the case.

He redialed the new number but then faced a long delay.

“I was now in a queue and I would be spoken to shortly. Then I was told I was 39 in the queue? At an average of say, five minutes a call, I would have to wait 3.25 hours. How much would this call cost? I hung up, needless to say,” he said.

The new Carlisle Healthcare telephone number is 01228 588121. Appointments will be available between 8am and 8pm Monday to Thursday, and until 6.30pm on Fridays.