The Doctor won't see you now

‘The imminent retirement of my much-loved GP is outrageous and deeply unfair. I don’t care if he deserves some time off’

- Emma Sams

This month my GP of the past 20 years is retiring and I have already started hyperventilating at the prospect of not being able to go and see him anymore. He has always been kind, non-judgmental and an exceptionally good diagnostician. He has looked after my kids and me so well that I don’t care if he wants or deserves some time off, I find it outrageous and deeply unfair that he’s going to retire.

We got off to a poor start in our doctor/patient relationship. Having just moved back from the USA, I was under the impression that each National Health GP appointment was five minutes and no more, so in order to impart all the necessary information, I talked very, very fast. Also, having recently had some issues in a Los Angeles hospital where details of my medical records were leaked, I had some questions about where and how these would be stored.

Now, in retrospect, I totally understand why my doctor would have been left with the impression that I was in need of some sort of psychiatric intervention. He didn’t know I was an actress (there wasn’t enough time to explain all that, I only had five minutes after all) but fortunately one of the receptionists recognised me as I left and filled him in.