WHEN the daughter of a patient whose GI investigations were again postponed due to the unavailability of day care beds phoned the Department of Health, the Departmental secretary's advice was to phone the patient's GP. She was then to ask the GP to phone the hospital and speak to the medical team involved in her mother's care, in the expectation that this would expedite her mother's admission.

This would suggest that it is the Department of Health's policy that when people complain about the effects of health cuts, that the complaint should be brought to the patient's GP, whom the Department seems to think has plenty to spare time and energy to make prolonged phone calls to senior medical staff.

Having made an initial diagnosis and referral, it is not the duty of a GP to follow up each referral with phone calls in a bid to speed up further investigations and care when the lack of hospital resources cause excessive delays in patient treatment.

GPs already have an increased workload due to health cuts in caring for patients who are discharged prematurely, or who have excessive delays in obtaining hospital admissions.

It is outrageous that we should be expected to spend another hour or more each day making phone calls to try to negate the effects of the Department of Health's own mismanagement.

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