Time to give the GP system a full medical

Do we still need GPs? These are the family doctors who have virtually every person in the country on their collective books.

They are qualified in general medicine, extremely well paid and spend more of their time acting as a mix of a social worker and vicar than as a doctor. But much, if not all, of what they do now can be better done by more specialised teams serving a wider catchment than the local GP.

GPs do not have, and by definition cannot have, such specialist knowledge and therefore are more and more acting as glorified receptionists comforting their flock who have runny noses and bottoms, while redirecting the sick to those who do have the knowledge.

For example, a relative of mine has been ill since Christmas. His doctor diagnosed neuralgia and issued tablets. He became more sick not better and the prognosis was that the tablets were having side-effects.

He still grew worse and the family eventually had to call someone out at the weekend. As GPs rarely work weekends these days, it was a doctor from NHS Direct who visited.

He could see the man was really ill and packed him off to hospital where he has been diagnosed with cancer.

Now, I am not blaming the GP, as they simply cannot know everything these days. I am blaming the very expensive and often inefficient way General Practices work.

I have type 2 diabetes and have to visit the local doctor’s surgery regularly.

I see one of the nurses, who carries out all the necessary tests and makes the necessary appointments for hospital check-ups and blood tests. This all works really well and if something started to go wrong it would not be my doctor but the Diabetes Clinic that I would see.

The only thing my doctor used to do was sign my repeat prescription three times a year and now even that is organised by the chemist.

I want to stress, for both clarity and my own well-being, that most GPs do an excellent job. But that job is changing and I believe we would be better served if local surgeries were replaced with fewer but larger clinics, that take care of all of the necessary but mundane medical requirements: from flu, to pregnancy, to diabetes etc.

These can be staffed by nurses, who would be able to look after all the minor ailments and refer all the not-so-minor, which often happens with the current set-up.

Any money saved could be used to fund a screening and testing service to all people over 50 years of age.

This would be a much more cost-effective way of ensuring we have a healthy nation and save lives.

I am aware that I am no expert in medicine and medical matters but believe the GP system is not working so well as at its inception some 60 years ago and a review is needed.

I am more than happy to hear the views of doctors and medical experts, so long as they are printable.

• SOMETIMES it is hard not to feel a little ashamed of some fellow human beings who live in this area.

An Italian statue was unveiled last September by Bedford market square.

It represents the narrative of the immigrant and the forces of a changing world through a series of larger-than-life figures.

It was commissioned and paid for by the Italian community in Bedford.

Sadly it has been subjected to a series of attacks by vandals. It is not known if these attacks are random by people who just like committing vandalism or targeted.

Now after such attacks the statue is to be moved to a more secure location.

How sad that such a beautiful statue, with such a noble idea behind it, has to be moved to somewhere safe, to preserve it from vandals.

Not one of Bedford’s finest moments.