HEALTH care services in West Somerset came under fire this week amidst claims that residents across the district are the victims of a postcode lottery.

The problems of evening and weekend GP cover, ambulance response times and local x-ray facilities available only on weekdays were among the issues raised by local people at a meeting in Minehead on Wednesday.

Janet Thomas, head of Somerset's minor injuries unit service, Caroline Parry, urgent and emergency care commissioning manager, and Stuart Lane, operational support manager for the Somerset GP out of hours service, faced a barrage of complaints from people at the Minehead Area Panel meeting.

A residential care home owner, local councillors, parents and pensioners were among those voicing their concerns.

The health chiefs had been invited to address the panel more than a year ago.

Local people told their stories and recounted their experiences of services that Mandy Chilcott, Minehead Central ward member on West Somerset Council, described as unacceptable.

People spoke of waiting up to five hours for out-of-hours home visits from GPs who were rarely local and had often travelled vast distances across the county.

The issue of similarly long waits for ambulances, often for elderly patients, and in one case a wait of ten hours, were also raised, as well as the lack of x-ray facilities during the evenings and at weekends in Minehead's new multi-million pound hospital.

There were also complaints about the sometimes long wait for treatment at the hospital's minor injuries unit, which is now, in line with similar units across Somerset, entirely nurse-led.

The mother of a nine-year-old boy bitten by a dog said she had taken him taken to the hospital at 8pm but had to wait until shortly before midnight to be treated.

She said her experience was happening more frequently than it might be thought.

"So many people are choosing to go to Taunton because they can be seen more quickly than in Minehead," she said.

"You have a lovely big hospital in Minehead but nobody will go there because the service is poor and then you will turn round in the future and say it is not being used so it should close.

"I have the utmost respect for the staff who work there.

"It is not the staff at fault, they are just the football - it is the management and the service is just going downhill."

The meeting was told that a 'static' doctor providing our of hours cover was based at the hospital until 9pm on weekdays.

But overnight the district was served by a mobile GP - one based in Bridgwater and another in Taunton.

Cllr Chilcott said she appreciated that the care provided locally, both in the hospital and by GPs, was in general good - but the out of hours cover was sporadic.

"As residents of West Somerset we are in a postcode lottery," she said.

"I have grave concerns about the out-of-hours cover. I feel we should have access to doctors and it is not reassuring when you live in a rural area if you have a medical emergency.

"It is not acceptable that we don't have the same access to doctors as people living in towns.

"If someone is dying or very ill, access to a doctor shouldn't be about logistics."

Cllr Chilcott said she did not believe the experiences of people at the meeting were isolated incidents.

"I do not believe these are one-offs. We have a lot of vulnerable people in West Somerset and our rurality and our distance from a major hospital make this situation unacceptable."

Her views were supported by local Somerset county councillor Brenda Maitland-Walker who said she had first hand experience of the out-of-hours service with an elderly and disabled relative.

"I have had problems," she said. "It has taken several hours to get a GP to attend and then the treatment has not always been appropriate.

"I have some serious concerns that we do not have a mobile GP in West Somerset."

Concerns were also raised by Anne Clarke, co-owner of the Dunster Lodge residential care home.

She described the loss of the x-ray facilities at the hospital at weekends and overnight as "a lost resource" and said she also had experience of waiting for ambulances.

"This is not a good service for Minehead and it can be very stressful for people," said Mrs Clarke.

The meeting was told that a review of the out-of-hours service was currently underway, although there was no timescale on when the findings would be reported or any changes implemented.

But Mrs Parry said local people needed to be involved and share their experiences to help determine how the new model should be delivered.

She said health chiefs were committed and understood the importance of the service and the need to implement any changes as quickly as possible.

In response to complaints about out-of-hours GP cover, Mr Lane said Somerset was not alone in struggling to find GPs prepared to work for the service.

He said during the evenings and overnight Minehead was not particularly busy, although the review would look at the issues raised.

Mr Lane said predominantly London-based agency GPs were being used to cover some out-of-hours shifts, sparking concern from local town and district councillor Paul Grierson over the cost and distance travelled.

Mr Lane admitted that in August, a total of 20 weekend and early evening shifts at Minehead had not been covered, leaving the area without on the spot GP cover.

He was unable to confirm how much the out-of-hours GPs were paid, although figures ranging from £50 to £87 an hour were suggested by other health chiefs.

Several people questioned why West Somerset's GPs could not provide out-of-hours cover on a rota system.

But Minehead GP Dr Ed Ford said there was a huge demand from patients see their own doctor during the week.

"If we were all on shift work, the continuity of care would disappear," he said.

Dr Ford said he was contracted to work from 8am to 6.30pm from Monday to Friday.

"If I did out-of-hours work I would give myself five years and I would be burned out," he said.

Dr Ford said the concerns reflected at the meeting were echoed across Somerset.

"Poor care out-of-hours impacts on care in-hours because we have to pick up the pieces.

"But we must make sure we have an appropriate response to this and not just a knee-jerk reaction."

In response to the criticism of the minor injuries unit, Mrs Thomas said nurse-led units worked well across Somerset.

She said 98 per cent of patients were seen, treated and discharged within four hours.

West Somerset Council chief executive Adrian Dyer said the concerns raised at the meeting did not relate purely to Minehead.

"This is a West Somerset issue," he said.

He wanted to pass the details of the review onto the district's three other panels and give local people the chance to have some input.

Anyone wanting more information on how to make their views known can contact the council or their local GP surgery.