A NUMBER of GP practices in Swindon have experienced problems with their phone lines this week.

Swindon Health Centre has had reported problems from patients that their calls are not connecting.

This has led to more people calling 111 or going to urgent care, making the waiting times longer.

Some people commenting on social media were under the impression that they simply couldn't get through as phone lines usually are busy.

A worker at Swindon Health Centre said they have been unable to take phone calls since Monday, but that already booked phone appointments can still go through as normal.

During the temporary outage, phone lines from Carfax Medical Centre were redirected to another practice, meaning there was no drop-in service for patients.

An NHS spokesperson said most practices now should have restored these problems.