Passing through her neighbourhood, I decide to surprise a friend. Stepping into her general practice that is constantly in demand and always overbooked, I am surprised when the receptionist says the doctor has just stepped out.

Stepped out where? It’s mid-morning, the waiting room is packed and as far as I know, she doesn’t do house calls. They can’t (or won’t) say.

I leave, a tad annoyed. Later, I am relieved I kept my mouth shut.

Shortly before me, a man had walked in. From their 20-year association, she knew him to be diabetic. He had caught the bus but neither the walk from the bus stop nor his blood sugar explained his elevated heart rate.

“Why is your heart rate so high?, she wonders while examining him.

“I haven’t eaten properly for two weeks”, he says.

She knows that he shares space with a boarder. It emerges that the boarder has fallen on hard times and can’t pay rent; consequently, the patient can’t afford groceries. Feeling increasingly weak, he is seeking a reason. But his doctor already knows the diagnosis: hunger.

So she says: “It’s almost time for my walk, come with me.”

Their first stop is the cafe. Noting the queue for service, she asks him to duck into the supermarket with her. He asks what she needs. Lozenges for my scratchy throat, she says.

Inside, she........

© The Guardian