My job is not any easier. There was talk that when the lockdown ended A&E would not go back to how it used to be....
Clinician Stories
The Covid Diaries 11
Saturday 13th June 2020 : Reality Check This week I’d quite like to get off the rollercoaster we’ve all been...
Re-living harrowing moments
The guttural howl could be heard at the other end of the corridor. It went on and on, uncontrollable, penetrating the...
Revisiting the basics of care
He was agitated, a tremor in his hands, his leg shaking, foot tapping. He wanted more Tramadol for his pain. Recent directives, figures from the USA and the desire here in the UK to avoid a similar opioid crisis crowded my mind. Sensationalist headlines about GPS as...
Realising: compassion for myself
This story is of a sensitive nature. We want to forewarn readers of this and offer links to sources of support for any of our readers who have suffered personally. www.rapecrisis.org.uk www.rasasc.org/ tel: 0800 028 8022 www.thesurvivorstrust.org/...
Relinquishing old fears
This story is of a sensitive nature. We want to forewarn readers of this and offer links to sources of support for any of our readers who have suffered personally. www.rapecrisis.org.uk www.rasasc.org/ tel: 0800 028 8022 www.thesurvivorstrust.org/...
Reassurance: the comfort of patients
I stopped dead in my tracks when he couldn’t lift his head off the pillow. The smile of greeting was the same but I knew something was very wrong at his inability to raise up to meet me. For a moment time stopped and I froze. Not now? This was quick. Oh no! The last...
Re-kindled memories – humanity at the end
She lay mostly silent and still, the occasional grimace the only indication of moments of intense pain and maybe fear. The freshly pressed, stark white bed sheet allowed little contrast against her cold skin; all colour had drained from her face and her arm...
Recollections: taking it all in
It was a cold, bleak Sunday in January. The trees were bare, the sky colourless and the ground had that bleached look it gets when it’s cold enough to see your own breath. A grey, tired landscape, devoid of colour after the Christmas holiday. Inside the ward was a...
Re-focusing our efforts: prejudging is pointless
My heart sank when I saw who was next on my list. A mother I knew well due to her regular visits. I had come to the conclusion after testing everything she had asked me to test, and found nothing to be alarmed about, that she suffered from health anxiety. I really did...
Re-leveling: how stories ground us.
Doctors make mistakes. There; I've said it. For those of us in the profession, that can be a hard pill to swallow, but the earlier that lesson is learnt the better, not only for our patients but also for ourselves. Doctors make mistakes - the important question is,...
Recalling my time in neurosurgery
As a junior doctor I spent six months working on a neurosurgical ward of a London hospital. This job was unlike any I had worked before. The hours were long and the work intensive. Our rota of four doctors was only filled by three of us, meaning at times a 1:2 on-call...