A Day in the Life of Dr Andrews Posted or Updated on 19 Jan 2022

06.00 The alarm goes off and Dr Andrews scrambles out of bed.  Every morning he travels to Jevington to see his horse

07.30 Having fed and watered the horse he arrives at The Sovereign Practice at Princes Park Health Centre.  The next half hour is paperwork from the previous day.  This includes repeat prescriptions, laboratory results, patient referrals, and, of course, general mail.

08.00 Now a meeting with the Management Team of the Practice to discuss Patient Issues.  These could be anything.  Currently, because of the time of the year, the focus is on Flu Injections.  Have we got enough clinics?  How can we squeeze in more to give our patients more choice?  Have we enough vaccinations to satisfy demand?  What actions do we need to take for the "Year of Care"?

08.40 Surgery begins: Up to 20 people have been queueing to see the Duty Doctor, but today Dr Andrews has booked appointments and will only attend to the waiting patients when he has finished his surgery.  He will see 15 patients (at least)!

11.10 When his surgery is complete, it is all hands to the deck to clear the waiting room of all patients wishing to see a doctor this morning.

12.30 The phone calls are waiting so are several members of the staff.  Everyone wants "just a word".  There could be as many as 20 phone calls to make but today he is lucky.  There are only 12.

Oops, no time for lunch today!  Instead, he has been asked to give a Tutorial with a trainee for an hour.

13.45 Now to check the Visit Book.  There are 6 visits required, 2 of which are in Nursing Homes and others are patients at home and are unable to come in to the surgery.

15.00 Back to the Practice to begin the afternoon surgery.  First he must enter his details from the visits on to the computer system, then meet with the Practice Manager for 15 minutes and try to make any telephone calls before the first patient walks in a 15.30.

15.30 Two hours with 10 minute appointments so that means another 12 patients.  Alongside him is invariably a visiting medical student looking in.

17.45 Surgery ends and now we have the results from the labs to check.  And calls to return; staff to catch up with.  There are over 100 prescriptions to sign, each of which must be checked.

19.00 Before Jonathan gets into his car, he takes a 5-6 mile run!  Now he is on the way home.  But it hasn't finished.  The laptop is waiting and is connected via a dongle to the Mainframe.  So Dr Andrews carries on until he is forced to stop by the computers back in the office.  They switch off at 21.50 so whether or not he wants to, he has to stop.

22.30 At last, bed