BABIES and children have been sent letters from their GP surgeries apologising for a phone line fiasco that left patients struggling to make appointments.

Confused parents highlighted the issue on social media after tots as young as four months were sent the letters from surgeries in the Better Health Partnership.

It follows criticism of its involvement with Integrated Medical Holdings, which handles back office functions.

IMH has come under heavy fire from patients for problems with its call-handling system after patients found themselves waiting for hours to get through.

Carrie Woollatt said: “My five-year-old son received one from Abbey Meads today. We are registered to Toothill.”

Bex Shaw posted: “My one-year-old got one but no-one else got one.”

A puzzled Shannon Hearn said: “My one-year-old son received one that was addressed to him and household.”

The letter begins by apologising for “difficulties caused by the new telephone booking and central hub".

It goes on to defend the collaboration between Abbey Meads, Moredon, Taw Hill, Eldene and Phoenix surgeries, which began in September.

“Had we as partners of these five practices not taken the steps we did and had this resultant collaboration not happened, there was a genuine risk that practices would have closed, resulting in up to 54,000 patients being re-assigned to other local surgeries potentially destabilising other services in the area.”

Local politicians have been invited to meet with the general manager and IMH.

In the letter from Eldene surgery, Dr David Jones and Dr Eric Holliday said there were no speedy solutions but staff were committed and working to address the problems.

They wrote: “We consider ourselves to be part of this community which is why we want the people of Swindon to understand the reasons why these practices have come together.”

IMH was approached by the Advertiser to ask why the letters had been sent to children but no-one was available to comment.

One of the surgeries in the group, Moredon, has been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission for several breaches of basic patient care.

Inspectors raised patients’ concerns over the new phone appointment system at the medical centre and warned that GPs were failing to meet the needs of their patients.