Part-time problem
AS A retired GP, I am astonished that the glaring faults in the NHS are being ignored.
The most important issue is the vast number of doctors who work part-time, usually two days a week. Their education was a burden on the taxpayer and the return is paltry. My daily routine until 1996 was two surgeries of 50 people, a home visiting list of ten and ward rounds at the maternity hospital three days a week.
All appointments were face-toface and never by phone. No GP complained about burn-out. I’m amazed at the numbers and titles of hospital management and the fact that a CEO can be paid more than a cardiothoracic surgeon.
Knowing the NHS, collecting the suggested extra charges will result in a raft of new managers.
I don’t think charges to see a doctor would deter patients as much as the present nonsense whereby a receptionist without medical experience decides who can and can’t have a face-to-face appointment — as has happened to me.
DR GWILYM EDMONDSONJONES, Ledbury, Herefordshire.