Following a recent (and growing) spate of “Surgery bashing” correspondence in the press, I have penned a response that some may care to consider if they can be bothered:

The Editor
Daily Telegraph
Guardian
Times
Independent
Lincolnshire Rags (Daily and Sunday Editions)(All of them)

Sir

I write in response to the many recent published letters from readers with regard to their local GP surgery being shut, and comparing our service to that of their local vet, which is not only open but providing full face to face consultations with the many dogs, cats, gerbils, snakes, squirrels, rats and their owners with regard to their continuing, and quite exceptional, medical care.

Please note we are open and have been throughout the pandemic. We are dealing with patients differently, but ultimately we are dealing with them as best we can – which includes video consultations, telephone consultations, face to face consultations, dressings, vaccinations, smears, referrals and just about everything else that we traditionally do. Some things have been “paused” by the NHS (not by us), and some things we have simply stopped doing because they are clinically nice, but certainly not essential or paid for through our contracts.

Within this, there is a little fact that you may not be aware of. Whilst your readers are clearly happy to pay £150 (or more) for each consultation with their beloved pet’s vet (before they even pay for the medications or any work that is required), the end result of which is dubious at best (unless the pets are able to complete Friends and Family Feedback unassisted ………..send the video to me if they can, as they will obviously also be looking for an agent, and I could be just that man……….), but are they aware that we get approximately £90 per ANNUM per patient to cover all of the needs of Primary Care that they visit on us? Luckily, some only pop in once or twice per month, but there are others who spend more time at this place than I do………and it’s still only £90. Bargain I would have thought?

So, the next time you publish a letter saying that a reader is disgusted when he or she drives past a surgery in the dead of night and the lights are all off, but the vet’s lights are shining bright – can I ask that you provide a response along the lines of “GP surgeries are trying to conserve money whilst the vets are, quite simply, printing the damned stuff………..”

Faithfully

Overweight, peed off PM somewhere in the depths of Lincolnshire. Working. Still.