I have corresponded with Margaret McCartney in the past and although our backgrounds are very different (I have been a solely Private GP for over 30 years) we tend to agree more than we disagree. She is correct to warn about online Private GP services who advertise "Get antibiotics online" and the difficulty in doing a proper clinical examination remotely
I have corresponded with Margaret McCartney in the past and although our backgrounds are very different (I have been a solely Private GP for over 30 years) we tend to agree more than we disagree. She is correct to warn about online Private GP services who advertise "Get antibiotics online" and the difficulty in doing a proper clinical examination remotely. However, the NHS has so much to do that it really would be impossible to improve NHS services to the point where Private GPs are no longer needed. We really do take some of the burden off the NHS so to describe us a "parasites" is a bit strong - we at SameDayDoctor do look after chronic illnesses and many complex physical and mental health issues.
I would take issue with one factual point - I am not able to enable queue jumping into the NHS since I am not allowed to refer to NHS consultants. I would be very surprised if other private services were able to do this as Dr McCartney claims. Similarly, we rarely prescribe drugs of potential misuse, and I would support any NHS GP who declined to continue long term prescribing of these based on a private consultation, and I would not ask them to do so.
Competing interests: No competing interests
