Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’ Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first The NHS on Thursday night performed a climbdown over plans to use online and telephone "screening" for GP appointments and announced that every patient would now have the right to see their doctor face-to-face. The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday that family doctors had been told to introduce a system of "total triage", meaning those seeking to see their GP were being discouraged and told to have an online or phone discussion first.