A Coalville surgery has responded to patients' suggestions its staff are 'having an easy time of it'.

The town's Long Lane Surgery has listed statistics on its website to show patients how busy the practice currently is.

And they show it dealt with over 20,000 calls - totalling incoming and outgoing - an almost 2,500 face to face appointments during September.

The surgery also posted a message on its Facebook page to address criticisms of the way it operates.

It has also revealed it is considering moving towards a digital system in future.

The post reads: "We are aware that people are frustrated with how long it takes to get through on the phones, and by our appointment system.

"We are always looking to improve things and we are considering a digital pathway to help patients access health care.

"There have been some comments made about the way we work - and suggestions that our staff don't want to see patients and are having an easy time of it.

"Every DNA (did not arrive) costs the NHS £108 and is an appointment that we could have offered to another patient.

"We would like to share some simple data with you based on searches we have done on our system software and is therefore accurate."

The Surgery's figures show that the total Face to Face appointments in September, was 2486, which is 36 per cent of all appointments.

There were 6961 total appointments, 90 of which were missed.

The amount of appointments totalled up to 340.

Call Figures were 18663 incoming calls with 7817 outgoing calls - a total of 26480 calls.

The Long Lane website adds: "In addition to the time this takes, our team of highly qualified clinicians generate a great deal of admin that needs to be done and as such require protected time to follow up on results, arrange referrals and complete notes.

"We are very proud of all of the team at Long Lane Surgery, no matter what their role is.

"Everyone works extremely hard to ensure we can provide quality care to as many patients as we can safely.

"We politely ask that everyone remembers that we are here to help, and we do our best to provide an excellent service at all times within the limitations of what is possible."