The last couple of months seem to have shot past, but what a couple of months they have been. I am just about getting my bearings again after being a GP at the Paralympics from the end of August for two and a half weeks. I started my stint at Greenwich before the games proper opened and was privileged to see many of the Paralympians practising in the equestrian arena.

I met some wonderful people from a variety of disciplines and learnt a lot from all of them. Some of the new things I learnt from the physiotherapists I will be glad to bring back to the practice to improve patient care. Some of the things I learnt from the vets and farriers will be less useful in day-to-day general practice but might help me out on quiz nights.

My second ten days were based at the Spectator medical centre of the basketball arena whilst the Paralympians played wheelchair basketball and later wheelchair rugby, our role as the medical team was to provide support and assistance to spectators staff and occasionally competitors. I had a fantastic time working with an amazing team of people from all over the country who had given their time and skills to help the games happen. It was an honour and a privilege to be included in the team. Fortunately we did not have to deal with much serious illness and were happy to be providing plasters, splinter removal, headache relief, rehydration, support for sprained ankles and other such minor interventions for the bulk of the time. I did have to swot up on some more unusual conditions, rarely seen in general practice, but fortunately did not have to exercise my revised knowledge.

Some of the team outside the basketball arena on the last day

I was fortunate on days when we were fully staffed to be able to pop my head into the arena and catch a glimpse of some of the amazing matches. Even when you were not in the stadium you could hear the music from the medical centre and know that someone had scored or had been sent to the sin bin. The roar of the crowd when the clock was counting down and a goal or touchdown was on the cards was just amazing. I had to wear a radio headset whilst on duty and the control centre kept us in touch with scores. It took me a while to work out that the basketball arena lit up with the colours of the winning teams in the evenings.

What else did it teach me? Well I learnt that I'm not keen on commuting and am grateful to be back to a 15 min journey in each direction. I hold in awe people who take in their stride 90 minute journeys to work.
Personally I became rather addicted to collecting pins commemorating various aspects of the Paralympic games. I understand that this was started in America and has grown along with the Olympic and Paralympic games. My most prized pin was given to me by a member of the Paralympics GB equestrian team. I never really got into trading or swapping my pins, as I was far too keen on keeping the ones I had collected. It is probably just as well the games ended when they did as I had ran out of space on my lanyard.
The experience also taught me that the Brits are not as dour and negative as they are portrayed to be. It was as if we had been transported to a parallel universe, everyone was happy, keen to talk, co-operative and friendly. Long may it last.

And now I'm back at work, proper work. It's good to be back in the practice seems to have survived all our summer absences relatively unscathed, thanks in no small part to the sterling efforts of the practice staff. Letters have been filed, prescriptions issued, appointments made, documents scanned, reports typed, telephone calls made and all the nitty-gritty of day-to-day practice life has run smoothly. Without the support of the practice team I would not have been able to allow myself such treats as the Paralympics. I cannot thank them enough for allowing me this experience.

There is no news as yet on the possible premises move but we will let you know as soon as we hear.
We are expecting our influenza vaccinations to arrive in the next few weeks, and will be taking bookings for vaccinations very shortly. We will be running our usual clinics in West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church Hall on October 23 and November 6. We will be providing the usual tea and biscuits and selling some cards to raise money for the charity "Freedom from Torture". Letters inviting patients eligible for vaccination should be going out in early October.

This has been another longer than intended post. The next one will be more practice focused and I hope I will not leave such a long gap.