A MEDICAL practice serving Saddleworth and Tameside residents has called in a local MP to try to resolve its four-month phone wrangle with BT.
Pennine Medical Centre also contacted the Independent to allay fears it planned a permanent closure of its satellite surgery in Greenfield.
They also asked patients for understanding and patience during their battle with the telecom giant.
After contacting BT’s top brass without a positive outcome, Pennine managers asked Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Mossley, to intervene on their behalf.
The Chew Vale practice is closed until May 7 due to phone line issues that started early in the New Year.
Greenfield staff have temporarily re-located to Mossley to meet with extra demand as calls are currently re-directed to its main branch on Manchester Road.
Patients calling for prescriptions are asked to collect them from the Mossley surgery.
Social media rumours suggest the Greenfield branch’s closure could see it shut for good.
But a spokesperson for Pennine-contracted to Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group-strongly refuted such claims and slammed the phone company.
They told us: “We have had an issue going back to January 14 and have rang them two or three times a week.
“We have a log of all the contact we have had with them. We were told an engineer was going to call last Wednesday but they didn’t turn up.
“We were fuming so we called the MP. Speaking to BT is the worst job you can do-you don’t get anywhere.”
Pennine say BT cut off the Greenfield phone line in error on January 14 and were told reconnection would have to go through as a new order.
“We are being abused left right and centre because people have struggled to get through. People in Greenfield are in uproar because they think the surgery is shutting for good.
“We have always had a good reputation but this has done it no good whatsoever. It is demoralising and heart-breaking.
“But the situation is due to no fault of the practice. We sincerely apologise for all the inconvenience caused but we hope you can understand that we have done everything in our power to remedy the situation from our end.”
Pennine received a ‘good’ grading at its last report by the Care Quality Commission in 2016 and rated ‘outstanding’ for providing responsive services.
The Independent contacted BT for a comment.
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