Becca Quinn has worked as a GP in London for 15 years. She is currently part of a wonderful GP practice in Battersea and continues to be inspired by the dedication and energy of her colleagues.
A poem for the beleaguered, the determined or the stubborn amongst us, who go to work each day and just do the best we can. Rest assured, despite the clamour and noise of unmet expectation, it is enough.
Go the extra mile?
Of course.
We are GPs. We are salt of the earth
frontliners who see your sweaty chests and palpate your sores and bones.
We squeeze in and pop in and phone in
to check you have taken your pills. We remind you
when your bloods are due.
We are GPs, it’s only our job.
The specifics are so obvious
and print so small
you’d be hard pushed to capture
them in the actual description.
But tell me,
When the bedside is now a screen on a train,
Or a phone propped in a crease of pillow,
When the consulting space is
a virtual exploding room full of wants
so raw and un-sifted from needs
so punctuated by indignation and rights
and words like “useless” and “fight”
And days that slip infinitely, endlessly into night
Where is the line that marks that mile?
Every one deserves extra.
But someone moved the end of the road.
Lovely poem, thank you!
“I want service” indeed!
It is time for ALL UK patients to pay for NHS care in my opinion, “extra mile” has no limit .