‘I have a life to live and now feel GPs have no part in it’

• FURTHER to Thomas Jones’s letter (GPs ‘put us at risk’, November 20), they do, as my recent experience demonstrates.

The only face-to-face appointment offered by my GP was six weeks away, and I accepted because there was no choice.

But a few days prior to it I received a phone call reminding me of it but stating a different time.

I visited the surgery to check on this and was given the original time, so attended the surgery at the original time.

Suitably masked, I noticed how cold the consulting room was when I entered and saw the window and door were open to the elements.

I asked my GP why, but he changed the subject. I requested politely that the door and window be closed because I was cold, but he changed the subject again.

I have a syndrome with symptoms being cold hands and feet, chilblains and poor circulation.

I had no choice but to sit opposite the open door, and as the meeting progressed I became more aware than ever of my arthritis and fibromyalgia pain, and wished I’d stayed at home.

I kept my coat on and shivered throughout and wondered why the GP, who I had been consulting for many years and had come to trust, had engineered this consultation.

At last I fled the surgery. I suppose the open door and window were to remind me that GPs are in charge and can do what they like where patients are concerned, and so discourage face-to-face appointments, encouraging phone consultation, and taking less time.

I would like to reassure Thomas Jones that I am not mouldering away quietly at home. Like him I don’t do technology, but I have email though not the internet.

Nonetheless I have a life to live and now feel GPs have no part in it, except to send my medication to the pharmacy.

I must now suppose the above treatment might be something to do with my age.

Older people are disliked by the medical profession and by society in general because some of us might carry Covid-19. I am in this older age group so am a suspect.

The GP is aware that I live with five incurable conditions. If only he had given an explanation for the open door and window, instead of going ahead with the consultation.

He has been capable of explanation in the past but unfortunately not on this occasion.

I should not have been forced to sit by an open window and door, in November, to obtain treatment. My medical needs had changed and I wanted time to discuss them.

Thought of future consultations fills me with dread. So, Thomas Jones, you might have had a lucky escape in not being able to get a face-to-face appointment with a GP.

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