As the clock struck midnight, taking us into 2020, never would I have thought, as a practice manager, I’d be saying any of these phrases this year! “You can’t come into the surgery unless you’re wearing a mask.” “For the fourth time today, Teresa, the mask goes OVER your nose.” “Sally, stop baking cakes –…

Sometimes I feel like I must be Bobby Ewing from the 80s’ American soap opera ‘Dallas’. If you’re too young to remember, after a particularly bad few months, when during the storyline he’d actually died, the viewer was taken back to a scene in the shower where, thankfully, the last few months had all been…

I’ve turned into ‘that’ patient. The one who sits in the waiting room (remember those days?) and bumps into someone they know. “How are you?” the friend asks.  “Fine, thank you,” the patient replies.  “How are you?” the patients asks.  The friend replies, “Fine, thank you.” That’s what I’ve turned into, whenever someone asks me how I…

In March, I walked back into work feeling refreshed from my beautiful cruise around the coast of Egypt. The smell of sand and sea completely vanished when I set foot through the practice doors. It was replaced by the odour of hand sanitiser. Of course I’d already had contact with the staff during my time…

I think I’ve come up with a great idea – a theme park based on a doctor’s surgery. I’d call the theme park ‘Bizzy Land’. In Bizzy Land, everyone is… busy. Get it? In Bizzy Land, there’s space for a thousand people in the park, but two thousand people try to get in every day.…

PM Polly What from your surgery would you throw in? Now, now – Julie on reception is not allowed (though we’d all like to at times wouldn’t we!). I’ve been asked to go first, “PM Polly”, James said – “of everything that you work with – what is it you’d most like to get rid…

PM Polly As I sit at my desk and wait for the computer tower to whirr up and for the monitor to flash the familiar ctrl alt del in order that I can log on. The sweat on my palms begins to fight through creating a tiny glint on my pale skin, despite it being…