It is very hard sometimes being part of such a negative, defensive, pessimistic and cautious profession - or so the 'media' currently paints us in General Practice.
For those with an interest, there is an additional thought provoking publication from the 'Medical Protection Society' over on-line interaction and relationships between doctors and patients - worth consideration.
MPS Guidance
In particular I am concerned of the mis-match between patient expectation on routine response to e-mail enquiries, and the attitudes and capacity in General Practice.
Simply put - more communication channels from the public to General Practice will add to demand and workload unless other work, communications and processes are discontinued. I believe most practices are currently working at or beyond safe capacity, so yes, we are cautious with good reason.
Peter S.
