Battling for a GP slot

SIR – Our local GP practice, like that of James Woods (Letters, May 10), has switched to an online request system. This was sold as an efficient way of prioritising appointments for those in most need – so when my 85-year-old mother was suffering from a red, swollen and painful leg, with a discharging wound, I trusted she would be near the top of the list.

After I had completed a labyrinthine form on her behalf and submitted a photo, we waited seven hours to be notified that we would be contacted for a telephone appointment. This took place two hours later; we were informed that “it doesn’t look infected”, but told to “get back in touch” if it worsened. An appointment was made for my mother to see the practice nursing team three days later.

Within 10 hours I was completing the same form again, adding that my mother now felt worse and reiterating concerns about a probable infection. This time we were contacted within a few hours and given a face-to-face appointment at which antibiotics were issued immediately.

As the GP practice can nevertheless argue that my mother was given a same-day appointment for her condition, it seems to me that the online request system is more to the benefit of surgeries than their patients.

Andrew Davis Purley, Surrey

SIR – Chris Thomas (Letters, May 3) asks if he is lucky in having a good local hospital Trust. Many of us would say so. I know someone who has been suffering acute hip and leg pain – not

just for months, but years. They can no longer walk, and barely sleep.

Finally, two months ago, after constant struggles to get help, they were given a date for the local musculoskeletal clinic – in September. The appointment is a telephone one. The accompanying instruction reads: “Do not attend.”

Lilian Hulse Bournemouth, Dorset