ROBERT MCNEIL

We’re bombarded by marketing designed to make us eat rubbish

THE continuing correspondence on the subject of the GP recruitment and retention crisis makes me despair (Letters, April 20, 22 & 23). How can one possibly compare the practice and provision of veterinary medicine with general practice? The set-up is fundamentally different ... as is the clientele.

As for calling into question GPs’ commitment and dedication, that is simply too much to bear. Despite these qualities which most GPs have in abundance, the fact remains that many are so worn out by the demands of this uniquely demanding job that they have to retire for the sake of their current or future physical and mental health.

Those who do retire in their fifties accept the actuarial reduction in their pension as a cost worth paying but yes, I agree that GP pay provides a good pension (fully paid for by disproportionately large contributions) but my younger colleagues in the new NHS scheme are not so fortunate, as they will have to work several years longer to accrue similar benefits. Watch for the huge increase in ill health retirals in 15-20 years as GPs drop from burn-out and exhaustion if nothing is done to address the problem.

The crisis remains self-evident and will remain unsolved as long as the extent of, and the reasons for, the crisis remain beyond the comprehension of those whom one would expect to appreciate them and those like your correspondents, who clearly cannot. Dr David Mathie, 16 Sheepburn Road, Uddingston.

This is the Riverside Museum photographed from the top floor of the Queen Mother’s Hospital, Glasgow. My Nikon D3 and telephoto lens captured the lovely shapes of the roof of the museum.