A FORMER Stevenston Provost and councillor has told of his shock after he was barred from his doctor’s surgery after SIXTY years as a patient.

And 86-year-old Sam Gooding believes it is part of a wider problem with the Three Towns Medical Practice in Stevenston.

Mr Gooding, who was a councillor for over 30 years, is a carer for his wife who suffers from dementia and was the recipient of a quadruple bypass back in 2003.

Now he has had to move surgeries after an incident after he tried to call them for more than 30 minutes.

He explained: “I was trying to get through on the phone for 30 minutes, maybe 40. When I went down they said nobody had phoned. It got me worked up and I was shouting but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t swear and they managed to calm me down.

“I went to apologise and the woman said, ‘Tell him I don’t want to speak to him, never mind see him’.

She said I would never be in the practice again and that she would see to that.”

Two days later, Mr Gooding received a letter telling him he has been struck off after 60 years as a patient and he has since joined the neighbouring practice in Stevenston.

He believes there is a deeper lying issue adding: “The SNP are telling us this and telling us that, I might as well talk to this radiator that’s in front of me. They had four doctors at one point and now there is just one and a locum. They all left because they knew what was coming.

“They did not hold any sort of enquiry or investigation of any kind into what happened. When I spoke to the office in Glasgow they were quite surprised by this.”

Mr Gooding is waiting to go to the Golden Jubilee to see about a choked artery.

He says that this is the first he has had any issues since his bypass almost 15 years ago.

He is now a patient of the Stevenston Health Centre and said of them: “Dr Gosh and Dr Shetty have taken me on and they have been very, very good with me and my wife. Anytime there is something wrong they are up to the house at a drop of a hat.”

Eddie Fraser, Director, East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership said: “NHS Ayrshire & Arran takes all patients’ feedback, comments , concerns or complaints very seriously.

“While we cannot comment on individual patients, we would encourage the patient or their representative to contact us directly with any concerns about their care.”