A new “walk-in” arrangement at our doctor’s surgery seems a great effort to manage the vast numbers of patients.

Arriving, you collect a numbered ticket, which does mean you have a good chance of seeing a doctor; it feels like a positive step.

There is a flaw at the point where people are asked at reception: “What’s the problem?”

If staff deem you unworthy of GP attention, you will be redirected and possibly refused a consultation.

Thankfully, we aren’t asked to reveal personal health details to office staff now but the nurse practitioner is not a doctor.

She isn’t going to propose a medical examination right there and then (I hope).

For someone who finds it difficult to express their needs in such stressful circumstances, a few ill-chosen words could mean an all-important physical exam doesn’t happen.

Surely the open questioning contravenes a duty of confidentiality?

If the patient responds at first with “a woman’s issue”, will she be pressed to offer more detail? I wouldn’t discuss my health in the busy, open area (and was offered the interview room) but some people will think they must.

For access to health care, if an individual is in the queue and their number is next, then it must be their turn; even a patient who is potentially treatable elsewhere must have that right to be advised by a GP in private.

There is no justification for interfering.

In terms of patients’ rights to confidentiality, the nurse practitioner is placed in an essentially untenable position.

Demanding to know each patient’s medical condition – even worse, doing it in front of others – creates embarrassment and could lead to argument, even anger.

(This new system does mimic the way Colchester’s walk-in clinic is run, but the layout of the reception area isn’t conducive to privacy.

Doctors despair of patients who attend with minor or viral illness but that’s the nature of the job: they have the benefit of education and the expertise to advise.

Who may justifiably say someone is less worthy of advice and care than the next?

Changes are leading to discussion and the waiting room becomes too noisy to hear the call from the team. This could be fixed by a return to old-fashioned “quiet please” notices.

Lisette Skeet

Firwoods Road, Halstead