GPs are full of kindness and wisdom – so why do they face constant criticism? | Zoe Williams

Here’s my prescription: let’s look beyond the attention-grabbing opprobrium and remember the day-to-day excellence surgeries strive to deliver

Once I met my GP at a party. I was sitting bang opposite, trying desperately to place her, asking insistent questions such as: “Were you a member of the Battersea Labour party in ’84 through ’92?” and: “Do you use that dry cleaner on Lavender Hill?” Finally, in desperation: “Are you famous?”

When I figured it out, I realised that there is probably a GP discretion protocol, where they don’t recognise you, and you don’t recognise them. Over decades, collectively, they have tested out all the other social alternatives for the doctor-patient meet’n’chat – “Hi! Haven’t seen you since your gallstones, how’s that working out?”; “You were right! I hadn’t gone deaf in one ear, I was just depressed” – and this is just the way it has to be.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3EpuGTZ