Face-to-face GP appointments are vital – but they must be used wisely
SIR – I welcome the move towards more face-to-face GP appointments (“Climbdown over NHS online and phone triage”, report, May 14).
However, there need to be fewer pointless ones for things like broken nails. If only those who genuinely needed appointments were seen, the service might be considerably less stretched.
I think initial phone consultations can be a good thing, along with the use of 111 to triage A&E.
Barbara Marshall
Helmdon, Northamptonshire
SIR – It is good to know that patients have the right to book face-to-face consultations with their GPs.
Now all we have to do is get through to them on the phone or persuade them to respond to emails.
Alan Quinton
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – Following NHS England’s episode of common sense over face-to-face appointments, will it now consider abandoning the ridiculous 10-minute limit on consultations?
Brian Lawrence
Dover, Kent
SIR – I am an orthopaedic surgeon married to a GP. She has by far the harder job. She is out of the house by 7.30am and back at 7pm on a good day.
The work is no longer rewarding. The Government changes the rules often and the GPs have to take the blame. To make it worse, GPs get awful complaints and are often demonised.
There are fewer GPs than before – many fewer per head of population than in other European countries – and they have to do more. They just cannot provide the unlimited service that everyone wants. No business could.
Perhaps GPs are due some thanks before they are totally demoralised and even more of them quit.
Peter Wade FRCS
Kenilworth, Warwickshire
SIR – Where I live, contacting the GP practice at all is a major challenge, with at least a 45-minute wait on the phone. NHS 111 provides a better service.
The practice will only accept one problem at a time, using a random assortment of doctors, none of whom will have dealt with you before. There is no continuity, and the arrangements for talking to anyone in an emergency are unsatisfactory. I no longer see the point of primary-care medicine. Judith Scott
Wokingham, Berkshire
SIR – Upon ringing my surgery I was told that I was 17th in line. So I sent an email, to which I received the reply: “Book an appointment by phone”.
D Bradbury
Bristol
SIR – Last week I contacted my surgery at 11.30am. A practice doctor contacted me at 3pm. By 5pm I was examined by a hospital nurse. Thirty-six hours later I was fitted with a pacemaker.
It is not all doom and gloom.
Rev Martin James Chopwell, Co Durham