Patients just want to see their doctor
HOW many times over the past year have the Government and patient organisations exhorted GPs to return to offering face-to-face appointments routinely, apparently for this to fall on deaf ears? Now the General Medical Council has stated that doctors have a duty to see patients in person (Mail). But nothing is happening and many patients feel they are being neglected. I was astonished at the recent report that 40 per cent of cancers are diagnosed only when the patient goes to A&E in sheer desperation, in extremis and after multiple failed attempts to obtain a consultation with their GP. This is a national disgrace and we need drastic action, not futile and empty rhetoric, to remedy it. GPs may be technically self-employed, but they are paid out of our taxes. The time for consultation with regulators and GP representative groups has long passed. The Government should take the appropriate measures immediately to ensure all patients have the legal right to insist on a face-to-face appointment with their GP. The empowerment of the patient is the only way to end this appalling situation. The GP receptionist should not be the final arbiter of whether or not a patient is given an appointment. My fear is that if nothing changes, patients will continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives.