How can Herefordshire GPs diagnose infections over the phone? (Image: Pixabay)
I HAVE heard it all now!
A good friend who is in her 70s and caring for her 80-year-old husband 24/7 who has dementia rang her GP just before Christmas as she had a really bad cough with a wheezy chest.
The GP then proceeded to ask her to breathe down the phone and deemed she did not need antibiotics, but told her to ring the emergency services if she got any worse.
Whatever is happening to our GP services? Can they really diagnose a chest infection over the telephone, and what happens to her poor husband if she ends up in hospital?
Is it not time GPs returned to seeing patients face to face as their hospital colleagues are?
Shirley Whittall
Hereford
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