‘GP said I might be blocked up. At hospital they told me I was heading towards sepsis’

Monica Evans's initial misdiagnosis could have proved life-threatening – and she is just one of many to have suffered during pandemic.

Since The Telegraph began reporting on the struggles of patients around the country to access GP services during the pandemic, they have been inundated with messages and letters.

There have been multiple stories of serious misdiagnoses made after telephone consultations with doctors that took place in lieu of face-to-face assessments; of interminable waits to get through to practices on jammed phone lines; and of lengthy delays while worried patients have waited for referrals to be made.

Those who shared their experiences have also shared their fury, frustration, fear and dismay. Some who could afford to have felt they had no option but to turn to private healthcare, unable to obtain the help they needed from an NHS struggling with Covid and all its knock-on effects. Others have been left with nowhere to turn. 

GPs have spoken, too, about their dissatisfaction with a system that has discouraged face-to-face consultations. 

Amid an outpouring of anger from both patients and doctors, NHS England yesterday rowed back on plans for "total triage" of patients to keep them out of surgeries whenever possible. But for many the damage has already been done.

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Source: The Telegraph, 13 May 2021