The Ferns Medical Practice 2014-10-23 Person 5 5 0

I am very lucky indeed to have had a very long association with this practice as a patient since I was 16, I think, with 3 years away at further education and the odd extended period abroad. I have had an enduring mental illness, with all the unpredictability and loss of balance which that can exaggerate in our common trials of work, relationships and secure accommodation. And as the nature of mental illness is such that one risks tending to be self-absorbed and to specialise in indulging all the worst habits and behaviours for one's equilibrium and physical well being - i.e. mens non sana in corpore non sano - AND the drugs they give you may, if one is unlucky, cause long-term side-effects, which they did to me - I really cannot think how to fault the compassion and patience and good humour and practical support which I have received over the years from the GPs and their long-serving practice nursing sisters. At times I have been gob-smacked by one or other of the medical staff's insightfulness and acceptance of my internal make-up and more unusual needs for staying sustainably on an even keel. I thank God for the NHS. I expect it provides the best multi-agency, multi-disciplinary approach to an individual's health needs in the whole world. And I expect that goes even, maybe especially in many cases, in mental health, the poor cousin of the other fields of health. Is it surprising in such a vast organisation that sometimes, and sometimes quite often, communication between departments breaks down and bad mistakes are made? Especially with so many structural interference and upheavals imposed by subsequent governments out to wave the wand of universal and timely treatment on demand at a cost which the UK can afford, that elusive elixir which would be reckoned to bowl over the electorate to the incumbent government's validity. No pressure, Mr Hunt, our right honourable local MP! And here I want to mention that under Dr Robinson's watch, the practice managers must be applauded for taking the administration of the practice, including the "pro-active" healthcare initiatives of the Ferns Practice, to a new level. And all that during a time when all the chaos of yet another NHS reform and some critical insinuations from politicians and press about GP availability, and introduction of more bloody performance rankings. It might be enough to drive many a dedicated medical practitioner away from service to public health to an easily controllable and autonomous life in a small private health practice. And thus the GP shortage, so we throw away unquestioning morality and any national sense of noblesse oblige and seduce them away from countries who can afford least to lose their trained medics? Thank you, Dr Robinson et al, and some of your predecessors - I must mention here Dr Raw - for over 30 years of enlightened local practice, and making a very significant positive difference to my own overall health and welfare.