Patients must be seen face-to-face
SO PROFESSOR Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, wants a 50-50 split between face-toface and remote appointments. I hope that his GPs will accept an equivalent 50 per cent deduction in their wages for just sitting at their desks drinking tea while talking into a computer. Despite mind-boggling sums being poured into the NHS, we are seeing a reduction in services. I can remember when doctors came to visit you at home. Not any more. A friend of mine had an appointment with a physiotherapist but was told to go home so that a consultation could be given over the phone. Friends who live in France tell me of the prompt treatment they receive. I feel it’s time for a complete overhaul. The NHS should be saving us, not the other way round.
CLIFF BROWN, Bolton, Lancs.
BRITAIN has always been so proud of its NHS but now, with face-to-face GP consultations under threat and the proposal that half of them are replaced by virtual appointments, one wonders: for how long? For a GP to get a proper understanding of patients’ symptoms and determine the appropriate treatment, face-to-face contacts play a vital role. Zoom consultations must not be seen as the alternative to seeing a patient in person. SHAFICK EMMAMBOKUS,
Cranford, Middlesex.
AS THE rest of the UK opens up after July 19, then surely there is no legal or medical reason that we cannot see a GP face-to-face. Or will they cling on to the belief that they are providing an adequate service to their patients via a telephone call? It’s about time the PM or new Health Secretary told GPs to get back to work like the rest of the NHS.
COLIN McLEOD, Cambridge.
GENERAL practitioners need reminding they are employed by the NHS and are not running private clinics. Covid is being used as a convenient excuse for patients to be refused face-to-face consultations which, prior to the pandemic, were the norm. A two to three-minute telephone call is fraught with danger; not for the GP but the patient. It is a situation that cannot be allowed to develop. It may be a benefit for doctors, but certainly not for those in need. PETER RICKABY, Selby, North Yorkshire.