THE unnamed Doctor Who (Letters, October 18) says my earlier remarks referred back to the halcyon days of general practice, but this was not my intention.

I was merely pointing out that unlike doctors today, Dr Lavery and Dr Lees not only accepted responsibility for 24-hour cover, seven days a week, but actually performed all the call-outs themselves.

Whereas doctors today, who still do accept the responsibility, pass the task of call-outs to locums.

This is a good thing because when you do see your doctor, he should be bright-eyed and busy-tailed, having not been up all night on call-outs.

Doctor Who adds that if GPs did their own on call-outs they would only be able to claim for visits made between the hours of 10pm and 8am, and that includes weekends, but is financial reward the only concern for him and some other practising GPs?

As far as stupid call-outs are concerned, I would have thought that this would have easily been sorted out.

I assume that when a patient phones up, they must give their name and address. If it proves to be an unnecessary call out, the patient should be given a warning and that if it happens again, they will be taken of the doctor's list.

ROY P DAVIES, Olive Lane, Darwen.