An oasis of face-to-face consultation in a desert of GP appointments

sir – I have just received information from my local GP surgery that “all appointments will now be face to face”. This from a surgery where face to face has continued to be available even during the onslaught of the virus.

Are we just lucky in Whalley or is it that GPS don’t all have the same attitude to their chosen profession? Rod Wilkins

Whalley, Lancashire

sir – I am a retired veterinary surgeon, but I come from a large medical family and have witnessed first-hand the evolution of working practices of GPS, who used to be the backbone of the health service.

My sister recently retired as a practice nurse in South Wales. There were nine GPS in the practice, of whom only one worked full time.

The updated 2004 GP contract led nearly all GPS to outsource weekend and night out-of-hours service provision, requiring additional doctors to do what used to be done by them.

One doctor in our family makes a comfortable living working just six nights a month.

Radical change is needed.

R Jonathan Richards Baughurst, Hampshire

sir – Laura Donnelly portrays GPS as part-time workers (“Average GP working three-day week after ‘worrying’ drop in hours”, report, October 11), yet in the same report she states that they are working 40 hours per week. A typical full-time employee in the UK works 35.7 hours per week (according to the Office for National Statistics).

Dr Marcus Gleave

Oxford

sir – A customer of Marks & Spencer or Tesco who had to wait 1 hour 57 minutes at a till to be served would soon take their custom elsewhere.

This is the time I had to wait on Friday to speak to someone at my GP’S. For 30 minutes I was told by the automated voice that I was third in the queue. After 50 minutes on the call, I was told I was next in the queue. I then waited a further 1 hour 7 minutes before a member of staff took my call.

Sadly, my experience is common. Why do we tolerate this when the answer is so simple and obvious? GPS do not employ sufficient staff to answer calls from their patients, so they need to take on more staff.

GPS do a wonderful job (and, in my experience, always in a professional and polite manner), but it is reasonable for patients to require GPS to make the process of contacting them acceptable. Susan Johnson

Ilford, Essex

sir – My local practice, which is held in highest esteem, provides patients with a “care navigator” (formerly a receptionist), as the first contact when they seek an appointment with a GP.

It is not the easiest way to get to advice and treatment. It often feels as if this is a means of protecting the “three-day week” for the GP.

John Illidge