In your report (May 14th) on the problems of patient access to GPs in York, you include the statement which has been much favoured by doctors over the last year, namely that they greatly value doctor-patient relationships and prefer face-to-face consultations, but are restricted by Government rules which insist that patients must be triaged, with a telephone discussion preceding any face to face appointment. Doctors and professional bodies have repeatedly complained about this rule. Well, all is changed. On May 13, NHS England sent a letter to doctors instructing them to make sure they are seeing patients in person and ‘respect preferences for face to face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary’.