I WAS dismayed to read a letter from JDW in Upton pondering the question "I wonder what these highly-paid GPs are doing during during times when we need them most?"

I hope I can shed some light on this question, as I am a GP myself.

I am a locum GP so fill in when surgeries need me and work in many different surgeries.

All the GPs I have worked with are working extremely hard.

As JDW says, prescriptions and sick notes are part of the role but we are doing much much more than that.

Your GP practice is open and has never closed during the pandemic. In an average session I see approximately 20% of patients face to face now.

Anything that can be managed on the phone is being done so and this is not for the benefit or comfort of your GP, it is because we want to stop you from contracting COVID.

Remember, at the start of the pandemic the Government instructed us to work over the phone.

I’m sorry JDW is having issues getting an appointment, but this is not because your GP is on the golf course or twiddling their thumbs!

In fact I have contacted my own GP in South Wirral recently and received an excellent service.

There are always improvements that can be made but I believe the failures in General Practice, and the NHS as a whole are down to years of underfunding, and not the laziness of GPs as is being insinuated in JDW’s letter.

I want to thank my colleagues in the NHS and actually all the workers out there who are trying to keep the country running at this difficult time.

Details supplied