Face-to-face GP appointments are a crucial part of the return to normal
sir – Shortly before the relaxation of lockdown restrictions I received a text message from my surgery (Letters, August 24) informing me that “despite restrictions easing on July 19 we still continue to operate the same as we have since the start of the pandemic”.
My feeling on receiving this was that, if we cannot rely on the NHS to lead us by example out of the current risk-averse mentality, there is little hope we will ever return to normal. Robin Lane
Devizes, Wiltshire
sir – My husband rang the surgery for an appointment with his doctor.
The receptionist said the doctor would phone him to discuss his request. She phoned him later that morning and, when he asked to see her, she said she was working from home.
I despair.
Anne Fieldhouse
Ramsey, Huntingdonshire
sir – I recently had a face-to-face consultation with my GP and, having dealt with the reason for my visit, the GP then identified something completely unrelated. As a result, I am now undergoing a series of tests.
Had I only been able to have a telephone consultation this condition would not have been picked up. Colin Parsonson
Gravesend, Kent
sir – My GP practice uses an online system called econsult for handing all patient inquiries and appointments.
I used to be a software designer and, had I been asked to design a system intended to give the appearance of enabling patients to contact their GP while actually preventing them from doing so, I would have come up with something pretty much like econsult.
The only alternative to using it is to telephone the surgery, wait in a long queue, attempt to persuade a reluctant receptionist to ask a GP to phone back, then be prepared to wait in all day for the call to come. When I want to make an appointment for our dog to see the vet, the phone is answered immediately and the dog is seen within the hour.
Stephen Harris
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
sir – The GP practice I attend offers a telephone appointment as a first port of call, very often on the same day.
This is better than a face-to-face appointment for things like asking for a prescription if an old ailment recurs. It saves a 20-minute drive to and from the surgery and the doctor’s valuable time. I trust this will continue on request after normality returns.
If deemed necessary, I have been invited to a face-to-face appointment that day or the next. On one occasion I had an X-ray two days later.
The care offered by this practice has been exemplary during the pandemic. The main changes I have seen are that the walk-in blood test clinic has closed and I have to make an appointment for my warfarin level control.
Ian Lander