‘It’s totally different here,’ Harry put in, helping himself to a biscuit. ‘Most of the folk we see have been on our books for years. Talk about from the cradle to the grave isn’t in it!’
Lewis smiled at the wry note in the younger man’s voice. ‘Don’t you approve?’
‘Oh, it’s great if you like that sort of thing.’ Harry grimaced. ‘It’s just not for me. I want a bit of excitement in my life before I settle for the old pipe and slippers routine. To be honest, I can’t imagine why you decided to swop an interesting job in London for working here…no offence intended, Helen,’ he added as an obvious afterthought.
‘And none taken,’ she replied smoothly. ‘I know this is just a stopgap for you, Harry, before you move on to bigger and better things.’
‘I didn’t mean it that way,’ the younger man said uncomfortably. ‘I enjoy working here but I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my days doing the same job. The Beeches is great the way it looks after all its patients so wonderfully, but it’s a bit of a throwback to another era. Very few general practices offer the kind of all-encompassing service we provide.’
‘Maybe they don’t but The Beeches was founded on the principle of commitment and caring, and that’s something I’m proud of and intend to continue,’ Helen said firmly. She turned and Lewis stiffened when he saw the challenge in her eyes. ‘How do you feel, Lewis? Do you think we’re out of date in the way we do things here?’
‘I think you could cut out a lot of the unnecessary work,’ he said carefully, not wanting to offend her.
‘Really? Would you care to elaborate?’
She stared back at him and he sighed when he saw the glint in her beautiful eyes. He really and truly didn’t want to start an argument but, now that she’d asked for his opinion, he felt duty bound to give it.
‘A lot of patients we see don’t actually need to be seen by a doctor. They could visit the local pharmacy and buy something over the counter for their cough or their cold. If we could be more selective when making appointments then we could spend extra time on the people who really do need our help.’
‘And how do you propose we sort out who does and who doesn’t need an appointment?’ she shot back.
He shrugged. ‘Most general practices use their reception staff to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.’
‘I’m sure they do. However, the reception staff aren’t medically qualified so how can they assess if a patient really needs to see one of us? If we ask them to make decisions like that, there is the risk of someone who is really sick not getting an appointment.’
‘That’s a valid point. However, the reception staff could be trained to ask a few simple questions when people phone for an appointment,’ he pointed out, although he suspected there was little hope of persuading her to adopt a different policy. However, it seemed wrong to him that their lists should be cluttered up with people who really didn’t need to see a doctor when it put added pressure on everyone.
Helen, for instance, could spare herself a lot of work if she would make a few simple changes to the way the practice was run. In the week he’d been there, he’d discovered that she was the first to arrive each morning and the last to leave each night. She didn’t even take an afternoon off like the rest of them did. She worked far too hard and it seemed wrong to him that she felt that she had to devote her every waking minute to the job.
‘I’m afraid I wouldn’t be at all happy with that idea.’ She pushed back her chair, making it clear that she didn’t intend to discuss the matter further. However, now that he’d got this far, Lewis wasn’t prepared to let it drop without a fight.
‘If it’s change that worries you then it’s always the first step that’s the most difficult.’ He shrugged when she looked sharply at him. ‘It gets easier after that.’
‘Thank you for that sage advice, Dr Cole. However, I’m the senior partner in this practice and I shall decide how best to run it.’
‘But Lewis has made a legitimate point,’ Harry interjected. ‘Take this morning, for instance. I saw three people who had colds and nothing else wrong with them. It’s a waste of our time to have to deal with things like that when folk would be better off at home in bed.’
‘Thank you for your contribution, Harry, but I think I’ve made my feelings on the matter perfectly clear. The Beeches has been run on an open-house basis ever since it was opened and I can see no reason to change the system at this point in time.’
She marched to the door, pausing to shoot an icy look over her shoulder. Lewis winced when he received the full brunt of her displeasure. ‘I’ll see you in the car park in ten minutes’ time. We have a full list of calls to get through so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t keep me waiting.’
With that she swept out of the door, leaving behind her a small but potent silence, broken when Harry cleared his throat.
‘Ahem! That went down rather well, don’t you think?’
‘Like a lead balloon.’ Lewis downed the rest of his coffee then got up to leave, knowing it would be unwise to keep Helen waiting. It had been her idea to accompany him to any home visits during his first week. She’d offered to introduce him to the patients and make sure that he knew where he was going. However, he couldn’t help wishing that she’d left him to his own devices. The thought of spending an afternoon with her after what had happened was less than appealing.
‘I still think you were right to say what you did.’ Harry gathered up their cups and took them to the sink. ‘Don’t you, Amy?’
‘I do. We need to cut down the amount of work we do otherwise we’re going to sink under the sheer number of patients we’re expected to see each day. I was hoping things might improve when Helen took over, but she’s not changed a thing. She runs this place along exactly the same lines as Ian and his father always did.’
‘Why is she so reluctant to alter the routine?’ Lewis asked curiously.
‘I’m not sure.’ Amy shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s her way of keeping Ian’s memory alive. If she changes things then it might seem that she’s trying to get rid of everything he held dear. But something needs to be done otherwise she’s going to run herself into the ground. Since the twins took off for Australia on their gap year trip before university, Helen has been working harder than ever. I think she’s lonely, although she’d never admit it.’
‘Her children are old enough to go to university?’ he exclaimed in amazement.
‘Oh, they’re not actually her kids, not biologically anyway,’ Amy explained hurriedly. ‘Ian was married before and when his wife died, Helen helped him look after the twins. They were only toddlers at the time and a real handful from what my mum has told me. She used to be the practice nurse before she retired and she was here when it happened. Helen was doing her GP training at the time but she stayed on after Ian’s first wife died and married Ian a couple of years later.’
‘I see. So does Helen have any children of her own, as well as the twins, I mean?’ he asked, wanting to form a clearer picture of the situation because it seemed important for some reason.
‘No. From what Mum has said, I don’t think Ian wanted any more children so he and Helen never had any.’ Amy sighed. ‘I think it was a bit mean of him, actually. I get the impression that she would have loved a baby of her own. She’s wonderful with the little ones—they all adore her.’
Very mean indeed, he thought grimly as he left the staffroom, although he took care not to say so. Helen’s reluctance to make any changes to the way things were done in the surgery was worrying, especially if it was bound up with loyalty to her dead husband. However, what really upset him was the thought of her disappointment at not being allowed to have a child of her own.
It