May I add one further aspect to the discussion relating to patients travelling to and from surgeries and its environmental impact1,2 that I have yet to hear included in any public debate — and that is the obvious conflict with the ‘choice’ agenda. We, too, are a practice in a deprived inner-city area with high rates of chronic disease, and yet a significant number of our patients still drive 3, 4, or 5 miles through town to visit the practice. It is not uncommon for patients to ring saying they will be late as they are ‘stuck in traffic’ or be stressed if the doctor is running late and they have only paid for 30 minutes on the meter. Ironically, they will have driven past or close by to at least some seven or eight surgeries on their way in.
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