Progress report on Diary of a Female GP

I guess it is time to update everyone on the progress of 'Diary of a Female GP' again.

It has been 2 weeks or so since I last had time to edit part of the book. Today I managed to finish another chapter. You may already have noticed a post on my Facebook Page with a short excerpt of the book. The scene below actually happened slightly before the one you can read here on my blog.

So, how far is the book now? The first 23 chapters have been edited and the remainder of the book awaits. There are 44 chapters in total. Still, the chapters from chapter 27 onwards were edited while writing already. Only a few more chapters left, then read it through again and export it from yWriter6 to Word for some extra touches and bringing it to Kindle format. And then it will be ready for the beta readers. Finally! Having a full-time job is definitely a pain where writing and editing is concerned.

So, here is a little excerpt of the book (the scene before the one on Facebook). I hope you'll enjoy it.

*****

At a quarter to eight, the practice manager knocks on my door and walks in, taking a seat, “Can I have a chat, please?”

Oh, no, what have I done now? Although I can’t come up with anything I’ve done wrong, I’m not infallible, and it is possible I made an error or inadvertently upset yet another person. In response to Claire’s question, I nod.

“Sylvia came to see me yesterday.”

No, I could not think of anything I did to upset our receptionist.

“She complained about a patient and I wondered how we should deal with this. Apparently, Patrick walked up to reception yesterday afternoon and leaned over in a threatening manner. Patrick told her she was a good-for-nothing B*** and she should just do everyone a favour by walking out and right in front of a truck. This started because Sylvia was unable to give him a prescription yet as it had not yet been signed. Although Dr K had received the box of prescriptions, he had not signed them yet. Sylvia looked into it and found out Patrick requested the prescription late morning yesterday and Dr K received the box yesterday lunchtime. How should we deal with this?”

Why had Claire considered it important to discuss this with me now? This could easily have waited for discussion in our partners’ meeting at lunchtime. Discussing it with all partners present, okay Dr P was on holiday at the moment, was preferable to only discussing it with me. One thing was certain though, Patrick’s behaviour was unacceptable, and it was also not the first time he had displayed this behaviour. On two previous occasions we felt obliged to send Patrick a letter warning him his behaviour was unacceptable and if he continued to display it, this would lead to removal from our list. The last time was about six months ago and again he had fallen back into his old habits.
In an obvious place in reception, we display a notice that prescription requests take forty-eight hours to process, so expecting it to be dealt with within a matter of hours was unacceptable in itself. His behaviour following this was even worse. We would need to consider placing a barrier at reception to protect our receptionists.

“Although I realise this is an important issue, I think we should discuss this at our meeting at lunchtime when Dr K is also here and can help us decide. It may be time for a removal letter, but let’s see what Dr K says about it.”

*****

Yes, the not so nice sides of General Practice. As mentioned it isn't a bed of roses.

And if you would like to find out what happens next, why don't you have a look on my Facebook page. You can find the post with the next scene here: https://www.facebook.com/JoniMartinsBooks/videos/427541884520286/

Joni