BOLTON'S emergency medical call out service is on the brink of collapse and could go under unless patients become more responsible, it was claimed today.

Patients are using both the GP out of hours service and the emergency medical service like supermarkets, claims Dr Barry Silvert, a spokesman for GPs in Bolton.

"I have never known morale be so low in more than 30 years experience as a GP," said Dr Silvert, who is calling on patients to adopt a more reasonable and responsible attitude towards the out of hours service provided by Bolton Medical Services at Landmark House, Chorley Old Road, and on-call doctors.

Demand on both services has been relentless for several weeks. In the run-up to Christmas, GPs were being called out because patients didn't want to be ill during the festive season.

And while many of us were tucking into turkey and Christmas pud, GPs across the borough were being called out throughout the three-day holiday.

Dr Silvert said: "Patients were using us in the same way they were the supermarkets, behaving as if we weren't opening for weeks and calling us out for the most inappropriate of reasons. "I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of genuine cases of flu I saw during the holiday. The rest were simply heavy colds and feeling under the weather.

"It is the vulnerable, the elderly and the very young who suffer as a result of patients' too high expectations. While we are out seeing them it is several hours before we get to see those who need us the most.

"Try calling a plumber out on Christmas Day and see how much that would cost. Medical services are quity simply undervalued by the majority of the population who believe they have every right to pick up the phone at whatever time and demand a home visit."

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