Part-time GPS

sir – It is time that GPS and the British Medical Association realised that illness does not occur at convenient hours but at any time of the day or night (Leading Article, October 12).

The return to full-time care at the primary level has become urgent. It is the only way to reduce morbidity and mortality, and the overload that has been inflicted on hospitals.

Dr David Bushby

Comrie, Perthshire

sir – The inference that GP phone consultations are inaccurately being recorded as face-to-face appointments (report, October 12) is as insulting as it is ridiculous.

While data on appointments can be useful for planning purposes, they fail to capture the complex nature of all patients’ interactions with their surgery. Crucially, the statistics published by NHS Digital are experimental and should be interpreted with caution.

We must end the preoccupation with “face-to-face versus remote consultations”, and a crude focus on percentages in isolation is unhelpful. The appointment data miss the work that GPS and their teams do outside consultations to ensure that their patients are getting the care they need.

General practice is under unprecedented and unrelenting pressure, demand for appointments is through the roof, and there are neither enough staff nor hours in the day to cater to the needs of the population. We should be focusing on what the Government can do to support practices so they can concentrate on delivering safe patient care.

Dr Farah Jameel

GP committee executive team, BMA London WC1