My first patient on Monday morning was ten minutes late. I was just about to call in my second when I saw that the first had just arrived. I hate it when this happens. The second patient will complain that she was here before the first, whose case is invariably too complicated to deal with safely in the allotted ten minutes, and then every subsequent patient will be kept waiting. I am aware that some GPs run to time. How they comfort a bereaved parent, tell someone they have cancer, explain the hazards of breast screening or counsel an anxious parent about MMR in ten minutes is a mystery to me.

LRB 30 June 2011 | PDF Download