GPS see more patients

SIR – NHS pressures are not confined to hospitals. We have a very real crisis in general practice after a decade of underinvestment.

In March 2022, general practice delivered 30 million patient consultations – more than in the same month before the pandemic, and 44 per cent on the same day they were booked. Yet more GPS are leaving the profession than are entering it, and GP burnout due to unsustainable workload is a major factor.

We simply do not have enough GPS to manage rising numbers of patients and the increasing complexity of the GP caseload. We understand patients’ frustrations when they can’t get a GP appointment, but the latest evidence shows that the numbers and type of patients accessing emergency departments are largely unchanged.

GPS need our support – and government action. We need urgent investment and expansion of the GP workforce and wider practice teams so that we can give our patients the safe care they need and alleviate the pressures on other parts of the NHS.

More support is also needed to ensure that patients can be discharged safely and effectively from hospitals back into the community.

Professor Martin Marshall

Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners

London NW1

SIR – The letter from a trio of healthcare professionals – Chris Hopson of NHS Providers, Professor Martin Marshall of the Royal College of GPS, and Matthew Taylor of the NHS Confederation (May 2) – perfectly sums up the problems in today’s NHS, with its defensive attitude and lack of empathy for the public struggling to access health care.

These people obviously haven’t had to try to speak to a GP recently to seek care for a seriously ill child, only to be rebuffed by an arrogant, uncaring receptionist, presumably at the direction of the GP to whom they report.

The NHS can only recover its reputation once it remembers that its primary function is to serve its patients, not its staff.

Mike Grimsey London N21

SIR – Many people present in A&E departments with common cancers that are not being diagnosed and treated early enough. These tend to be at an advanced stage with poorer outcomes. The UK compares unfavourably in cancer survival with many advanced nations, yet spends increasing sums on health care. There is something wrong here.

This is only in respect of cancer care.

Many people are still unable to be seen by a GP. It is hardly surprising that the workload for the ambulance service and A&E departments is increasing.

Dr Nigel Legg

Bracon Ash, Norfolk