THE son of an 86-year-old Tywyn woman who died earlier this month says something must be done to improve health services in the town after he was unable to get a GP to visit his sick mother.

David Nicklin’s mother, Iris, lived in Dol Hendre. She heart failure and chronic kidney disease. When she vomited continuously for 24 hours, he said he called Tywyn Health Centre to request a home visit, but was told no doctors were available.

“On Monday, 3 October I called Tywyn Health Centre at midday to request a home visit from a doctor to review my mother Iris,” he said.

“She had been vomiting continuously since Sunday, 2 October. A receptionist called back and told me there were no doctors available for a home visit and if I was concerned to take mum to A&E at Bronglais. My mother did not want to go to Bronglais so we agreed to leave things for 24 hours.

“On Tuesday, 4 October I rang the health centre again at 8.30am to request a home visit and was told there were no doctors on site at all that date. I couldn’t get a doctor out until Friday, 7 October. Once she came, it was incredible, but I feel extremely let down.”

“My mother was 86 and just wanted to be made comfortable at home.”

Iris died at home on Saturday, 15 October. Mr Nicklin believes she would have died anyway, but said “the end could have been easier if we could have got someone to see her sooner”.

“Once the GP came, she was great and it was like a well-oiled machine with palliative care and carers put in place.”

Mr Nicklin believes issues over GP availability for home visits has only become a problem since the health board took over the running of Tywyn Health Centre. He said: “I’m hoping the Cambrian News can shine a light on the sheer incompetence that seems to be the hallmark of the service currently being provided.

“I would like to see the health centre fully-staffed with GPs. It seems things went wrong there when Betsi took over.”

Gill Harris, deputy chief executive and executive director of integrated clinical services, offered condolences to Mr Nicklin and his family and urged him to contact the health board directly so it could investigate.

She added: “In September 2021, the GP partners in Tywyn practice gave notice that they would be terminating their contract. The vacancy was advertised, but unfortunately, we received no interest.

“Therefore, to ensure the population continues to have access to primary care services we took on the management of the practice and the employment of the staff on 1 April 2022.

“The recruitment of GPs remain a challenge for much of the UK because of a national shortage, and over the last eight months, we have been unsuccessful in recruiting new GPs to Tywyn Health Centre.

“We have plans to establish Education and Training Hubs in the area which we hope will bring trainee and medical students from both Bangor University and Aberystwyth University, along with other allied health professionals to support the practice.

“We have recently appointed a new advanced nurse practitioner who took up their post in September. We are also working in partnership with Welsh Ambulance Service to provide mentoring and training to paramedics who will provide support to the practice and home visits.”