The Mail on Sunday

Our GPs have to start seeing patients again

-

Well done to health reporter Jo Macfarlane for asking the question I have been boring everyone I know with for the past three months: Why are GPs still refusing to see patients face to face?

As a type 2 diabetic, I have to be extra vigilant when it comes to inspecting my legs and feet for any sores or wounds. Yet when I called a doctor a few weeks ago, they diagnosed the severity of the problem based solely on my ability to describe a festering wound.

Please keep the headlights on this deathly problem and help get doctors out of their living rooms.

Barbara Epstein, Leeds

I had a telephone appointmen­t with my GP following help from a very efficient and polite receptioni­st. Then I had a face to face appointmen­t with my GP who was very thorough. Why aren’t all GPs doing this?

Malcolm Wilkinson, Seaham, County Durham

As a GP receptioni­st, I take great offence at being called a despot.

We ask what the call is about because we have been told to by the doctors – it helps them treat urgent cases first. We have worked hard throughout this pandemic. Every day we are sworn at and spoken to like dirt, but every day we continue.

Jane Flower, Merthyr Tydfil

Lots more people will die from other illnesses because they cannot see a doctor.

Mick Miller, Newcastle

With a phone appointmen­t, all you receive is a prescripti­on for antibiotic­s – the very thing the NHS has been campaignin­g against.

C. Broadbent, Yorkshire

I’m a GP serving 32,000 patients, and most call and demand an appointmen­t for things they could be treated for at the local chemist.

By combining telephone, video and face to face appointmen­ts, I’m able to see double the amount of patients. We are trying to keep you safe. We aren’t hiding from anyone.

Name and address supplied

If it’s OK to be two metres apart in a supermarke­t, why is it not OK in a surgery waiting room?

Steve Garrett, Maidstone

At my surgery you have to wait in the car park. Making the elderly wait outside in freezing weather when they are unwell is so wrong. Jules Cartwright, Crick, Northampto­nshire

We should show our respect for pharmacist­s who have to cope with the fallout from GP surgeries.

W. James, Shropshire

My friend, a nurse in a GP practice, has seen patients face to face from the beginning of the pandemic. Yet the doctor still sees a maximum of two per day.

C. Douglas, Hampshire

We need a public inquiry into the behaviour of GP services during the crisis. As a nurse I have seen many patients admitted to hospital who, according to their families, GPs have refused to visit. It’s a national disgrace.

R. Gold, Stoke-on-Trent

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom