Patients' time is valuable too

EDITOR, - I believe that Mrs Perkins-one of Trisha Greenhalgh's patients-was justified in feeling cross and leaving the waiting room, having waited an hour after her appointment time.1 Her time may be as valuable as Greenhalgh's. If it is necessary for a doctor to spend 18, 26, 24, and 19 minutes with patients attending the surgery then other patients should be asked to return later or be seen at home. Such casual disregard for the time of others is too widespread and erodes the reputation of general practice.