Abdul Pathan is a GP at The Gadhvi Practice at Fountayne Road Health Centre, N16. He spoke to Sarah Dallas about a typical working day.

7am
I wake up at my home in Enfield, where I live with my wife and two children. I never spend enough time with them. Long, unpredictable days are part of a GP’s life.

9am
I get to the surgery, and the phone calls begin. Mondays are usually the busiest. The clinic has a list of 5,500 patients between three doctors: myself, Dr M.R. Gadhvi and Dr N.M. Gadhvi. Also, we have to run various clinics, eg asthma, diabetic, blood pressure, travel clinics and much more. We also work with district nurses. At the moment we are one doctor short. We’re desperately looking, but it’s very hard to find GPs these days. Many people are put off by the huge amount of paperwork we now have to do every day.

9.30am
The surgery opens, and I start to see patients. In one morning I do several health checks, follow-ups, blood pressure monitorings and so forth. We have a very mixed group of patients. About 15% are orthodox Jews, 20% are Asians, 20% are Black and 40% are Caucasian. Some Muslim and Jewish patients won’t take medication containing gelatine because it is not halal or kosher. But we work closely with local ethnic pharmacies so that we can help everyone.

Stoke Newington is a very poor area of London, and I see health problems related to damp, badly heated housing and unemployment. I spend quite a bit of time helping people with social problems, not directly related to health. The patients are quite needy because of of their circumstances.

10am
The days are unpredictable. As well as seeing patients, I have to deal with any emergency that crops up. I might get a call from a coroner if one of my patients has died. If that happens, then I will have to go and and issue a death certificate.

If it’s Tuesday, we have a baby clinic, and see up to 40 mothers and babies. I really enjoy working in this clinic. There’s a lot of teamwork involved, with a health visitor, Practice Nurse and another GP, Dr N.M. Gadhvi. This is a friendly practice, and over the years we get to build a rapport with our patients. It’s very busy, but the patients tend to be quite accepting. In a richer area, I might see fewer patients, but they would probably be better educated, so would have lots of questions. It’s swings and roundabouts really

12pm
I never get a lunch break – we’re all on the go all day. One of us might pop out and grab some sandwiches for everyone. If I’m lucky I’ll get a 15-minute break sometime during the afternoon.

When I started out, getting a job as GP was very competitive. But things have changed. The new GP contract has made a lot of doctors disillusioned. The Labour government has introduced the Primary Care Trust, which is all about meeting targets. In a way, it’s a good thing. But keeping on top of the paperwork takes up at least one hour a day, which is no joke.

1pm
Once a week we have staff meeting, and once a month a team meeting. We discuss things such as problem patients or IT issues. Every so often I go out for a post-graduate meeting or seminar. All GPs attend them to keep skills up.

2pm
I’m seeing an increase in TB recently. People are bringing it into East London from abroad. many of them don’t even know they have it as they were never diagnosed in their home country. It’s airborne so it spreads pretty quickly. TB flourishes in poor areas. In the old days it was known as ‘consumption’. You don’t see it much in areas like Surrey.

3pm
Sometimes I see very rare and, for a doctor, extremely interesting cases. One of these is Gelastic Epilepsy, an unusual form of epilepsy which starts off as a fit of giggles. I enjoy looking into particular areas where I think I can be of help. For example, I’m campaigning for a system that would allow corpses to be scanned to determine the cause of death. This would provide an alternative to autopsy, which is against the Muslim and Jewish religions. I’ve written to the coroner and I am awaiting his reply

4pm
At some point during the day I have to get through my paperwork. GPs must now record the results of every consultation on special spreadsheets. It’s a laborious process. I’d much rather see my patients instead of slaving over my computer. The changes are largely the result of the Shipman inquiry. The government is trying to improve safeguards, so that such a disaster can’t happen again.

If I had three wishes I would ask for another doctor, more space in the clinic and less paperwork for doctors!

7.30pm
I finally get home. I would love to spend more time with my family. My son and daughter are 17 and 13. My wife is a busy housewife. We all go on holiday once a year. Dubai is currently our favourite destination. We stay at the Jumeirah Beach Resort and relax in the sun for a week.

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