Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth has been roasted on social media after he suggested he only listens to doctors’ COVID-19 concerns if they call him.

Dr Coatsworth took to Twitter to thank doctors for their constructive communication over the last six months and to point out they are heard when they pick up a phone “instead of a megaphone”.

But the praise didn’t get the reaction he may have hoped for, with numerous doctors stressing they would call him if they had his number.

First to react was GP Dr Karen Magraith, an Australasian Menopause Society board member, who politely wrote that she was keen to hear which number healthcare workers should use to call him.