Some musings

‘For all our days that tear the heartLeave us nowhereFor all the years we left untoldHurt, we couldn’t hold much longer’ Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler I don’t know if it’s because of my ever greying hair or simply the result of wishful thinking on the part of those who are posing the question, but […]

Aristotle had it right when he asserted in his ‘Metaphysics’ that ‘Those who wish to succeed must ask the right preliminary question’. More than 2000 years later, doctors would do well to listen to his advice. Before adopting each and every new advance that claims to be good for our patients, we should ask what […]

To the tune of ‘With God on our side’ by Bob Dylan. For twenty six years nowA GP I’ve beenAnd many’s the numberOf patients I’ve seenThey’ve come with their sicknessIn times of distressBut where will they go whenThere’s no NHS? Way back when I startedI always did knowTo those who required oneAn ambulance would goBut […]

Two photos taken nearly 50 years apart, the second snapped shortly before Christmas at a family gathering to celebrate my parents diamond wedding anniversary, delayed by two and half years due to a certain attention grabbing virus that’s been prevalent of late. Things to note: Discerning observers will also notice that I am the second […]

THE LIFE I LEAD Some while ago I was fortunate enough to be sat in Exeter’s Northcott Theatre to see the opening night of ‘The Life I Lead’. It is a brilliantly written play by James Kettle performed single handedly with equal brilliance by Miles Jupp. Through a conversation with the audience, it tells the […]

Recently I came across Hugh McLeave’s biography of Professor Ian Aird entitled ‘A Time to Heal’. In it Aird is described as having been ‘a brilliant surgeon, an inspired teacher and one of the great medical personalities of his generation’. He was also, if I have my family tree correct, my grandfather’s cousin. Born in […]

‘Eleanor Rigby Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been Lives in a dream Waits at the window Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door Who is it for?’ Eleanor Oliphant may be perfectly fine – but Eleanor Rigby is not. Maybe you’re not either. It’s […]

Dr Creosote enters the room. Worn down by the years that he has been taking on the burdens of others, he has obviously failed to look after his own health. Looked down on by those who can barely conceal their disgust for what he has become, he struggles to make it to his table but, […]

Recently I came into possession of the following, a transcript of a recent conversation that took place at a Somerset GP practice. The shouted interchange was between the Secretary of State for Health [SSH] and the senior partner [SP], the latter calling down his responses from the roof of the building, through an open velux […]

(It’s approaching 8pm and four tired looking clinicians are preparing to go home at the end of what has been another busy day. The only refreshment they have access to is that provided by the decrepit looking machine that is positioned in the corner of the room in which they are sitting) C1: This coffee, […]