Negative spin of GPs is inaccurate

THANK you for publishing details of the Department of Health survey that showed excellent access to GP surgeries throughout the country and, in particular, the above average access figures for Cambridgeshire as a whole. I was especially pleased to see ho

THANK you for publishing details of the Department of Health survey that showed excellent access to GP surgeries throughout the country and, in particular, the above average access figures for Cambridgeshire as a whole.

I was especially pleased to see how well the Spinney Surgery performed and trust the Government is pleased that this survey, which cost only £11million, justifies its investment in primary care.

You highlighted the areas of dissatisfaction in Cambridgeshire as 27 per cent for those who thought their surgeries should open longer and 47 per cent who felt their surgeries should open on a Saturday. I am pleased to tell you that these percentages relate only to the 15 per cent of people who were dissatisfied with their doctors opening hours so the true percentages are seven per cent who were dissatisfied because their surgery was not open on a Saturday and four per cent who were dissatisfied their surgeries were not open late enough in the evening.

I am sure you will want to support all of us who work in primary care and who do our best to provide rapid and timely care to the general population. It is obvious that such low levels of dissatisfaction are quite extraordinary, and I cannot imagine any political party that has ever enjoyed equally low levels of dissatisfaction in this country.

It is even more extraordinary because the way health care revenue is shared out by the Government penalises Cambridgeshire, and we are grossly under-funded as a region. I am sure you will want to publish the correct levels of dissatisfaction and help redress the negative spin that has unfairly been thrown at general practice in the last year.

Dr SEAN CULLOTY

The Spinney Surgery

St Ives