BMJ  2007;335:306 (11 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39300.420116.59

Views & reviews

From the frontline

The return of the Saturday surgery?

Des Spence, general practitioner, Glasgow

destwo@yahoo.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I sighed. Glasgow's tower blocks, heavy skies, and the sprawling postwar housing schemes that aimed to offer a better life than did the inner city slums disappeared in my rear view mirror. We headed for a better life in rural Suffolk, where I had taken up a GP partnership. The move from the electoral wards with the shortest life spans in Britain to those with the longest was just an eight hour drive. All my training, however, had not prepared me for the reality of general practice.

Fifty consultations every day, five house calls at lunchtime, call-outs in the midst of surgery, 7 pm finishes, Saturday morning surgeries that ran till 3 pm. But I considered myself lucky, for the fledgling out of hours cooperatives had freed us from the 24 hour commitment that had crushed previous generations. I struggled, suffering near constant chest pain induced by stress. This was . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

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Speak for yourself, Dr.Spence, not us!
John Leigh
bmj.com, 13 Aug 2007 [Full text]
Admin load and costs not reduced
Adrian K Midgley
bmj.com, 13 Aug 2007 [Full text]
What I sell and what patients want bought
Adrian K Midgley
bmj.com, 13 Aug 2007 [Full text]
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