Letter: GPs should have final word

The most important person in any community must be the local GP.

They have the enormous responsibility for our own health and that of our loved ones.

The GP can arrange expensive hospital tests and scans, prescribe medications and sign us off, as too sick to work.

In newspaper adverts like 'Want to quit smoking?' we are told that our first port of call should be our GP.

On top of all this the Government wants GP groups to be responsible for controlling millions of pounds of NHS budget.

You would think then that the GPs' word and decision would be final and followed through.

Unfortunately this is not the case in the land of benefits.

In this place an Atos Healthcare nurse can carry out a one-off, 25-minute medical assessment paid for by the DWP and declare a person fit for all types of work, so enabling the DWP to stop ESA benefits and render all GP words, reports, sick notes and treatments as unnecessary, worthless and a complete waste of time and money.

William Nuttall

St Georges