HEALTH Day in the life of a Welsh GP
MY DAY starts just before 7am. After pressing “snooze” too many times, I can no longer ignore the alarm.
I get up and have a quick shower before preparing breakfast for my three children. I leave the house at 8am and drop my son off at school.
My working day begins with 45 minutes of paperwork. I’ve got 12 emails to answer, ranging from LMC business to clinical work.
I clear my desk of 15 test results and answer a couple of urgent queries.
Surgery begins at 9am. I have 16 patients to see, and I never know if I’ll be seeing someone with a cold or cancer.
Nearly all the patients I see definitely need longer than the standard 10-minute appointment slot. It’s gone 1pm before I finish surgery, having dealt with some extra queries from my GP trainee who has just started consulting, as well as reviewing urgent queries from our nurse.
For lunch I have a quick sandwich at my desk while I dictate three referrals, sign 100 or so repeat prescriptions, ring back four patients who’ve left messages and squeeze in a few emails that can’t wait.
I move on to my lunchtime house calls. Today I have just one, a patient with cancer who is on a syringe driver, requiring palliative care.
A syringe driver helps reduce pain or sickness by delivering a steady flow of injected medication continuously under the skin. This is a heart-wrenching consultation with a frail and vulnerable patient which cannot be rushed, despite my heavy workload in the afternoon. I finish the consultation satisfied that she is comfortable and feel positive that I’ve made a real difference to her quality of life.
At 2.30pm, before I begin my afternoon surgery of a further 16 patients, I phone the district nurse to discuss my house call. Despite being overworked and short of resources, she is doing a sublime job of caring for patients in our local community. I have a hospital colleague shadowing me for a few hours, so we discuss the appointments ahead.
Throughout the afternoon the appointments are wide-ranging. I see a few patients with mental health problems who need longer appointments, as well as seeing patients with chronic pain, diabetes and a few children.
One of the children is acutely unwell and needs hospital admission.
By the time an ambulance arrives and the mother and child are on their way to hospital, I’m running half-anhour late.
My last patient leaves at 6.30pm, then it’s time to take a deep breath, grab a cuppa and sort out the administrative work that the day has generated.
Other staff are leaving, so the interruptions come to an end. After completing three referrals, reading the 36 hospital letters I’ve had today and dealing with some medication queries, I answer some more LMC-related emails.
At 7.30pm I drive to pick up my son from cricket practice, mulling over the things I’ve left unfinished.
We arrive home and my two daughters are already in bed. This isn’t unusual – during half of the week I only see my children at breakfast.
After dinner I’ve got time for a cup of tea and some catch-up TV (we’re addicted to Elementary in our house!) and my wife tells me off for checking emails when I’m supposed to be unwinding. After the news it’s off to bed as I prepare myself to do it all over again tomorrow.