I’m not sure if it’s being back at work after the summer break, the drought and the bushfires, or just that I am now a cranky old man — but I need to have a rant about the dubious correspondence we sometimes receive in general practice.

Professional-looking reports, on lovely paper with coloured letterheads and medicolegal implications.

In fact, some of the letters we receive are not worth the paper they are written on.

I have identified four common problems we GPs have to deal with on a daily basis, but I’m sure there are more. I’d love to hear about them.