Gravesham MP Adam Holloway is calling for urgent action to improve services at a surgery in Northfleet.

Mr Holloway and his staff have even volunteered to help overworked reception staff at Springhead Health in Vale Road, after numerous reports of problems obtaining appointments and medication.

In a letter written to constituents and published on his Facebook page on Wednesday Mr Holloway he said he had visited the surgery to discuss the "awful situation" and demand an action plan.

And in a further Facebook post he said his subsequent offers of help were turned down.

"Yesterday members of my office team and other local friends volunteered to go in and assist the existing (excellent and overworked) reception staff," said Mr Holloway. "Despite the current problems, the CCG would not support this saying that 'Reception staff require a level of training and expertise before they can work and also enhanced employment and DBS checks.'

"I would suggest that there are more pressing issues here, but nonetheless… please can anyone with reception experience and DBS checks who would be available to help on a paid basis over the next couple of weeks please email me direct: hollowaya@parliament.uk".

In his initial letter Mr Holloway said he visited the surgery on Tuesday to find out what was happening after reports people had found it impossible to make an appointment or order new medication.

He added: "The directors are in no doubt as to the seriousness of the situation, which has not been helped by a complete changeover of IT last week and their losing six experienced reception staff in one go.

"They have now recruited a total of 11.5 medical staff, which should be the correct number for a surgery that is supposed to look after 22,000 people. They also now have recruited new reception staff who will allow shortly.

"But this does not address the fact that today and yesterday and the weeks before it was in many cases impossible to get help from the surgery - either in the form of an appointment or for new and existing medications.

"So this morning I also spoke to Gail Arnold, deputy managing director of Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group - the people who buy health services from GPs on your behalf.

"They are very much aware of the situation and have been trying to sort things out for some time - and while they believe that the new arrangements will dramatically improve things medically, she acknowledged that this would still take some weeks."

Mr Holloway says he asked the CCG to come up with an urgent action plan to enable people to contact a health professional.

A statement from NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group said: “Due to the need to keep patients and staff safe all GPs have been required to close practices to

visitors without appointments. We know this has put additional pressure on phone lines and we understand that is causing difficulties for many patients.

“Springhead Health has faced a particularly difficult situation due to a high number of staff vacancies and a changeover in IT systems. This means that patients are finding it very difficult to get through on the phone at some times of the day to access the care they need. We are continuing to work with the practice to help them.

“Springhead Health is recruiting additional staff to fill vacancies and some will be starting work over the next few weeks. The CCG is also helping them secure suitable temporary staff, including a pharmacy technician.

“If you are a patient of Springhead Healthcare and having difficulty getting through to the practice and have a concern about an urgent medical problem and you’re not sure what to do NHS 111 can help either online at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by calling 111.

“If patients at Springhead have queries about medication and requests for repeat prescriptions we would ask them to call the Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service on 0300 131 1100 as they will be able to help you.”

Read more: all the latest news from Gravesend.