GP blues
Sir: Regrettably I must prolong the corres- pondence about the availability of GPs, since the statement in Christopher Heneghan's letter (27 August) that GPs' surgeries, are 'closed all hours' must be corrected..
Fortunately, a recent independent sur- vey of some 1200 GPs' workload has provided data on this subject. The average GP spends about 60 hours each week either providing services to his patients or being 'on call'. Other survey evidence shows that 93 per cent of GPs hold Saturday morning surgeries. It is, there- fore, quite wrong to suggest that GPs are not available to see their patients on Saturdays, or at other times. Indeed, there are few other professions which match the time commitment required of doctors. It should not be forgotten that the GP is responsible for the patients on his list, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Mr Heneghan's childhood memory of the Fifties and of his general practitioner father being 'open all hours', starting his morning surgery at 7.30 a.m. and finishing between nine and ten in the evening may or may not be accurate but it would appear they rarely met. Surely he would not wish that on doctors' children in the future.
M. A. Wilson
General Medical Services Committee, British Medical Association, Tavistock Square, London WC1
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