Ever since my early years as a newly qualified doctor, time spent in the outpatient department was always regarded as a chore. This perception was not unique to me. It was a widely held view such as to spawn a renowned mnemonic analogous to the well-established assessment of the collapsed patient; instead of Airway, Breathing, Circulation, ABC became Anything But Clinic.
Senior House Officer (SHO) and Registrar posts were memorable for the hours spent with extraordinarily bulky sets of case notes – often in multiple volumes – belonging to patients who had been reviewed on an annual basis since their first new patient appointment with Will