Frustration over late post and missed appointments

Residents have described their frustration at missing key medical appointments because of post arriving late.

The BBC spoke to people across Reading about their experiences, with one woman saying she and her husband had missed more than 10 medical appointments over the past year.

Three Labour MPs have already written an open letter to Royal Mail after numerous complaints from constituents about delayed post and missed deliveries.

Royal Mail said delivery performance in Reading was improving and that it was making "significant changes across our network".

Most people the BBC spoke to said late post was not a significant problem for them, or that they accepted deliveries were now less frequent than in the past.

However, John Honeybourne from Lower Earley was among those to have experienced disruption.

He said he had recently missed an appointment to get new hearing aids.

"They phoned me up to say 'where are you?' because I never received a letter to have my hearing aids fitted," he said.

"I had to arrange a new appointment over the phone - the letter never, ever arrived."

Margaret Price, from Caversham, said she and her husband had also been affected, having missed "loads" of hospital, GP and ECG appointments.

Describing the situation as "irritating", she estimated she had missed between 10 and 20 appointments herself, and said elderly neighbours who relied on regular blood tests had faced similar issues.

"The post sometimes comes once a week and when it does come, you have missed an appointment - it's ridiculous," she said.

"I live in sheltered housing with 25 other people and all the post comes sometimes just once a week - and when it does come you have lost your appointment."

Brendan Gilberston, also from Caversham, said his wife could have missed cancer appointments had they not received notifications from the NHS app.

"The letters confirming appointments often arrive days after the actual appointment itself - you cannot rely on the mail, we have to use the app," he said.

Royal Mail, which is owned by International Distribution Services (IDS), has struggled with rising competition in the delivery market, fewer people sending letters and fines from the regulator Ofcom for missing targets in recent years.

In August, Royal Mail missed its delivery targets for first and second class post, but said it was making progress as its turnaround plan continues.

It said the company's latest results showed first class delivery performance in Reading had improved from 75.4% to 83.4% delivered the next working day, and across all of its letter products 93% were delivered on time and more than 99% within a week.

"We know there is more to do and are investing £500m over five years to improve reliability," Royal Mail added.

"We are making significant changes across our network, including rolling out our new delivery model across all 1,200 delivery offices."