STAFF and patients at a Rhyl Medical Centre had to cope with a difficult few days after their phones went down.

Clarence Medical Centre, on West Kinmel Street, had to deal with a fault on their phone system and experienced "major" problems throughout last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The fault on the telephone was causing problems for both outgoing and incoming calls.

A new piece of equipment, needed in order to resolve the problem, was delivered and installed by BT last Wednesday.

It is understood in terms of how the InClarity phone system operates at the centre the line is leased from Griffin, maintained by BT Wholesale which is maintained by BT Openreach.

Speaking about their frustrations at the centre last Wednesday, Ali Ellis, Support Services Manager, said to the Journal: "When we contacted BT, they said the broadband line was fine and that we needed a certain piece of equipment to fix the issue.

"We then went backwards and forwards with BT. An engineer came and they said a piece of equipment was going to be left at the telephone exchange.

"This is day three of not having phones - we are suppose to be a care level four, the highest level of priority.

"I did explain to the chap that we have 1600 patients and they couldn't get through to us."

Dr Simon Dobson, senior partner at Clarence Medical Centre, added: "It has a huge impact on our patients and us."

A spokesperson from BT Cymru Wales said: "We can confirm that a fault on the telephone system was causing problems for both outgoing and incoming calls to the Clarence Medical Centre in Rhyl.

"The fault was raised with us on March 5 and one of our engineers attended the centre on the following day. In order to fix the fault we had to order in a new piece of equipment which was delivered and installed on March 7.

"We’re pleased to say that Clarence Medical Centre has confirmed that the telephone system is now working fine. We will continue to monitor the situation in order to make sure that there are no further problems with the system."