Margaret McCartney: General practice is a long game.

At the end of another long and difficult day, it’s easy to lose all sense of the joy of working as a GP. It’s still there, under a pile of paperwork maybe, but it’s still there. I’m thinking about the baby born after many years of trying, when you exchange smiles with the parents, who know too well the years of tears and infertility. I’m thinking about the bereaved husband, and the wife who came to talk to you about her fears around how he’d manage after her death. His wife understood that you’d still be around after she died and that you’d still be offering care to her husband. I’m thinking about the person you haven’t seen for a few years, but who returned to the practice to see you because you helped with her depression before.