Patients wanting medical advice at Halstead’s GP surgery will now be able to see a doctor without an appointment.

Elizabeth Courtauld Surgery, off Factory Lane West, will be running walk-in clinics from next month.

It will mean patients can be seen by a clinician on weekday mornings without a pre-booked appointment.

The new system is being introduced after long-running complaints from patients about being unable to get a time to see a doctor.

The open access clinics will run from 8.30am until 10.30am and offers patients with new ailments or illnesses the chance to be seen on the day.

A spokesman for the surgery said: “Everyone at the surgery who arrives and requests this before 10.30am will see clinical staff appropriate for their condition.

“It is difficult to predict how many patients might attend each day, so we would ask that people coming to the practice without an appointment must be fully prepared to wait to see a clinician.

“This clinic is intended for medical problems that have recently occurred, not for ongoing conditions already under NHS treatment.”

The open access clinics, which are run at surgeries across the country, will begin on Monday, June 4.

Patients have previously been required to ring the surgery or queue outside early in the morning in a bid to get an appointment on the same day. A new telephone system, where patients are asked questions, was introduced to reduce the levels of patients unable to get appointments.

Practice manager Richard Hartwell said: “Feedback tells us that for some of our patients the current appointment system does not work.

“We’re always looking at alternatives and with the staff we now have in place, our GP partners believe we have the opportunity to try something different which will hopefully be of benefit to all of our patients.

“We will of course look for feedback from our patients regarding this new system.”