Doctors on the phone

SIR – While face-to-face GP appointments (report, October 12) are an important part of primary care, they should not be seen as a right.

The NHS guidance for primary care still requires staff to maintain social distancing in waiting rooms and carry out enhanced cleaning after every appointment, which makes it hard for any practice to offer as many face-toface appointments as it would have once done. By contrast, guidance was changed for hospitals in September.

The development of primary care networks means there is a wider range of services available to patients, some of which may be more suitable. These include consultations with advanced nurse practitioners, first-response physios and clinical pharmacists. Social prescribing and a telephone call may also provide a better experience.

Telephone consultations are more efficient. Each month around a million more people have appointments on the same day as their request. This is a real improvement for patients.

Jeremy Hooper

Southport

SIR – How many medical students are planning to work full time?

Are the limited places on courses being given to the right people?

Should not those on these subsidised courses agree to work full time for a certain period – and, if they fail to do so, pay back the shortfall?

Richard Bellamy

Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire