Why are patients still being left in limbo?

sir – Eve Mcleish (Letters, August 21) asks why GP surgeries are still not offering face-to-face appointments.

The sad fact is that since March, unless you are a Covid-19 patient, NHS medical and dental primary healthcare has virtually ceased to exist.

I have waited three weeks for a GP phone appointment, and have been told that this is how surgeries will be run from now on. My oncologist has been unable to consult for four months because the private hospital he works from was commandeered by the local NHS hospital for a Covid-19 epidemic that never materialised.

The public is being let down.

Dr Martin Henry

Good Easter, Essex

sir – My 90-year-old neighbour, who can hardly walk and has no transport, was told to go to the surgery, as no doctor would visit. What is going on? Carol Sutcliffe

Castle Cary, Somerset

sir – There have always been good and bad GP surgeries, so it is unfair to condemn them all. I recently phoned mine at 8.30 am. A doctor rang back an hour later, and, after discussing my symptoms, said I needed to see someone. Half-an-hour later I was told I had a face-to-face appointment that afternoon. Last Friday I had blood tests. This practice has always provided excellent service.

Margaret Wade

London SW6

sir – Eve Mcleish’s sister has the misfortune to live in the wrong part of Kent.

In her final months, my wife received half-a-dozen visits from the NHS Home Treatment Service (west Kent), as she is registered with a surgery over the border.

A doctor in full personal protective equipment examined her, performed blood tests, prescribed antibiotics and made follow-up phone calls. She also had a couple of visits from her GP.

All the NHS staff (including the ambulance crews, rapid-response teams and district nurses) were faultless.

Anthony Lott

Etchingham, East Sussex