A Fareham councillor has accused Royal Mail of "failing" residents after complaints of lengthy postal delays, including reports that NHS cancer screening letters and hospital appointments were being missed.
Cllr Joanne Burton said she had been inundated with complaints and was escalating the issue to postal regulator Ofcom and the Government’s Postal Services Minister.
The Fareham councillor said residents had reported waiting up to three weeks for post, missing NHS cancer screenings and hospital appointments, and receiving late fees on legal documents.
In a letter responding to Cllr Burton, Royal Mail said deliveries at Fareham Delivery Office were being affected by staffing and vehicle availability problems.
Royal Mail said: "It is very difficult to know exactly where and when problems occur with a given item as we do not keep records of standard first and second class mail travelling through our network."
The company said recruitment had helped support more consistent deliveries, with staff who had been absent due to sickness also returning to work.
Regarding missing NHS letters, it said: "As part of the work, we introduced the NHS barcode in July 2025. The barcode is designed to mitigate the impact on NHS letters by helping to optimise their delivery at times across the UK.
"A number of NHS bodies and health practitioners have registered for the barcode and this is increasing over time. However, NHS boards are complex organisations with no one central point to procure postal services.
"There is no standardised approach. Each NHS body manages its own procurement process, with multiple points of contact, and it is down to individual eligible customer choice."
Cllr Burton said the problems appeared to extend beyond Fareham, affecting postcodes PO14, PO15, PO16 and SO31, including Locks Heath, Warsash, Burridge, Park Gate, Sarisbury Green and Whiteley.
She added: "To say it is insulting to our community is an understatement.
"A massive part of their letter focuses on NHS barcodes, subtly trying to shift the blame for missed hospital appointments onto health departments rather than their own failure to deliver the letters.
"Our local posties are working incredibly hard under impossible structural pressure, but the senior management at Royal Mail is completely failing them and failing our entire borough."
The Sarisbury ward councillor said she would write back to Royal Mail to challenge its response and was contacting Kate Dearden, the Postal Services Minister, Ofcom and Hamble Valley MP Paul Holmes.