They might as well have put up barbed wire round the GP’S surgery
sir – I was reading the letter by Professor Martin Marshall, the chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, regarding the role of GPS during the pandemic (July 8), until I reached his remark: “It has been business as usual in general practice throughout the pandemic.” I nearly fell off my chair.
Short of putting up a barbed-wire fence round our local GP surgery, they have done just about everything else to dissuade patients from contacting them.
I have been bombarded with SMS messages, telling me what they weren’t prepared to do, which for most of the time was just about everything.
“Stay away,” was the clear message coming out, even if the surgery was actually open at times.
How can supermarket employees on a minimum wage continue to serve us, face to face, throughout this crisis, yet handsomely rewarded GPS seemed to use every excuse to avoid it?
Ron Richardson
Lancing, West Sussex sir – In this small village, we have been excellently served by a team of dedicated GPS and nurses throughout the current pandemic. A phone call to the receptionist in the morning will always result in a call back from a GP for a phone triage.
Then, certainly in my case, this will be followed up with a face-to-face consultation if necessary. All precautions are taken.
I cannot thank one GP in particular enough for helping me through the last six months.
Ray Edworthy
Shaldon, Devon
sir – My experience is that it has most certainly not been business as usual. I suffer from debilitating arthritis in my thumbs. I have had steroid injections in the past, administered by my GP, which help significantly. But my GP surgery has told me I cannot have this done at the moment, and they have no idea when the treatment might be reinstated.
They gave no explanation except to say that the Royal College of General Practitioners had advised GPS not to. They made no offer of a video consultation, but suggested that I should “call back every couple of weeks or so to see whether anything has changed”. So much for “business as usual”.
How is it logical or desirable that I can visit the dentist, have my hair cut, go to the pub, sit next to someone on a plane and take my car for a service but not see my GP to have basic treatment?
Is anything being done to fix this scandalous situation that is condemning thousands of people to unnecessary misery?
Charlie Barrass
King’s Lynn, Norfolk
sir – Professor Marshall says that it has been “business as usual in general practice throughout the pandemic”. He clearly hasn’t tried to see his GP recently. What used to be difficult has become an impossibility.
Aled Jones
Rhuddlan, Denbighshire