Housecalls are becoming an endangered species in general practice. Hence a request for a home visit to a young woman with acute anxiety symptoms is turned down by me, several times in fact in the course of a long phone call with her. She tried hard, but I was unmoved. I offered an emergency slot whenever she wanted one, but no, I would not be going out there. I felt sure she wouldn't show, but she did, at 3 o'clock this afternoon. I thank her profusely for coming in, and we have a long chat about her various, more or less insoluble, life problems. I offer anti-depressants, which she accepts, and arrange to see her again in 2 weeks. I even give her my latest toy, a questionnaire to measure the extent of her depression. Her score is almost off the scale..
As so often on these occasions, I feel an overwhelming sense of impotence, unable to make any real difference to her life. But the event is soon swept away in the general tide of other patients I have to see that afternoon...
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