Post’s surgery shelter story rubbished by Mayor

A report in the Bristol Evening Post claiming that Town Councillors are looking into the possibility of providing a shelter outside Bradley Stoke Surgery “so that people queuing to see a doctor don’t have to stand in the rain” has been rubbished by Town Mayor Ben Walker.

Cllr Walker told a meeting of the Town Council’s Finance Committee that the statement, in an article written by the paper’s Political Editor Ian Onions, had been misreported.

The reference to a shelter was presumed to refer to proposals for a bus shelter at the Brook Way/Courtlands northbound stop, that had been discussed at a Council meeting earlier in the year, he added.

Scores of patients are often seen queing outside the Brook Way surgery between 8am and 8:30am, in an attempt to secure a same day appointment with a doctor.

Patients trying to book an appointment by phone are often frustrated to find that all the appointments are taken by the time they get through.

A massive investment that tripled the size of the surgery in 2010 seems to have made little difference to the chances of securing a same day appointment, judging by responses to a recent message in The Journal’s forum.