constantly to someone who doesn t know my own health issues, to talk to someone over the phone that doesn t know me at all, who has probably never had the paperwork that is needed on my conditions it has really stressed me out. the proportion of consultations which are face to face in england is still well short of the pre pandemic level. there are no comparable figures for scotland, wales and northern ireland, and the nhs will now allocate more money to practices in england, to bring in locum doctors to increase appointments, as long as they explain how they spend it. today s package is all about support, about providing gps with ever more support, so they can do more of what they love doing, which is seeing their patients. it s about having more appointments and having more prompt appointments and allowing patients to have more choice in the way that they are seen. a shift of some work treating minor illnesses to pharmacists is part of the plan to ease pressure