Trying to contact your doctors via the phone can be a frustrating experience at the best of times.

Of course, GP surgeries are a busy place and staff cannot give all of their attention to taking calls, but some surgeries are much harder to get a hold of than others.

Here are the three hardest GPs to contact via phone in Watford, according to patients.

The data is taken from the 2021 GP surgery Survey, which provides an overview of patients’ experiences with primary care services.

Questionnaires were sent out to 18,658 patients – 40 per cent of which were completed.

Garston Medical Centre, North Western Avenue, Watford

While Garston does not have the lowest rating across the whole CCG, it is the lowest rated in Watford.

Just 37 per cent of respondents find it easy to get through to this GP practice by phone, way below both the CCG average of 67 per cent and the national average of 68 per cent.

Of the patients surveyed, 55 per cent of respondents describe their experience of making an appointment as good.

Dr Rami Eliad, senior partner at the practice, issued a statement apologising to patients and thanking them for the feedback.

The practice is taking steps to revamp is phone systemts to provide a better experience for patients.

Dr Eliad said: "We started the process of having a new telephone system liaising with Herts Valleys CCG and various telephone providers. We have signed up for a new telephone system and we will be going live in the very near future.

"This will provide many advanced features including call queuing and call busting. We hope this will improve your experience and access to the practice on the telephone, in person and via the website.

"We had a 'Doctor First' appointment system on the same day to address our patients' medical needs during the pandemic. This was enhanced in October 2020 to include many pre bookable appointments for non-urgent problems."

Suthergrey House Medical Centre, St. Johns Road, Watford

While a respectable 81 per cent of patients (slightly below the national average of 83 per cent) described their overall experience at this GP as good, just 46 per cent said it was easy to contact by phone.

Watford Health Centre, Upton Road, Watford

Just 60 per cent of respondents said they find it easy to get through to this GP practice by phone but 83 per cent did say they found the receptionists at the practice helpful.

Bonus: The Grove Medical Centre, Borehamwood Shopping Park, Borehamwood

While not in Watford, of all the surgeries in the NHS Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group The Grove was rated as the hardest to contact by phone.

Twenty-seven per cent of patients said it was ‘easy’ to get through the practice by phone.