Friday, April 21, 2006

Becalmed

Bank Holiday weeks are always a bit funny in Primary Care Land. Tuesday becomes Monday only slightly worse ('cos we were shut for three days over the weekend instead of just two) and this Tuesday moreso (four instead of three...). The result, a duty surgery from hell, essentially double booked all through the afternoon, and a gazillion visits in the visit book beforehand.

Ending with a very harrased and tired looking Dr J home late Tuesday evening. Still nothing a stiff Jack Daniels couldn't cure.

Wednesday and Thursday were much the same, though the intensity came down a notch or two.

Which brings us to Friday. Yep. You guessed it, Dr J in the Duty surgery again. And it's like a ghost town. Just one visit after morning surgery, barely half the appointments taken, and, mystery of mysteries, three no shows.

I still have difficulty with this concept. To get a Duty appointment you have to book it on the day, so what can make you ill enough to need the Doc before mid-day, and yet be better before 3pm? Then the paranoia starts to get to you. What if they got to find out it was Dr J on duty today and decided to vote with their feet. Maybe not everybody loves me...

Maybe it's the new improved "Gregory House" style bedside manner. Or perhaps it's just that it stopped chucking it down and looks like a nice weekend?

Still the desk is a lot tidier and the BMJ backlog has shrunk a bit so it can't be all bad.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Duty appointment you have to book it on the day, so what can make you ill enough to need the Doc before mid-day, and yet be better before 3pm?"

Dr. Jest ... is there a possibility that they were worse by 3 - enough to not want to leave home?

Or ... I guess it could be that they improved. I know that when ill, people often seem to feel best in the afternoon, for some reason. The fever goes down ... things are looking up - until dinner time or just a bit after.

Well, it's a good thing that you got to kick back a bit. Don't worry, I'm sure they all still love you! ;o)