After I left Dr Ingold’s Kingsway practice, I was undecided about my future. I had a dental qualification and had always found dentistry a much easier way to make a living. For a start there wasn’t any night and weekend dental cover required in these days … which was a major consideration.

I was also doing quite a bit of scriptwriting and some presenting which brought me into contact with a bunch of ‘name-droppy people’ like Rowan Atkinson, Caroline Aherne, John Lloyd, Dr Rob Buckman, Jimmy Mulville (Founder of Hat Trick Productions for which I was ‘the midwife’) and Stephen Fry.

However… I had a loyal following in SWF and all this coincided with a campaign for better healthcare facilities in the town. The new town had been created by Essex County Council with no thought whatsoever for healthcare and, thereafter, it remained firmly at the bottom of its agenda. There was, in particular, a campaign to get a new purpose-built Health Clinic for the town—which appealed to me.

Sue’s sensible advice and pressure from my patients swayed me to stay… added to which the realisation was dawning, as a result of bumping up against supremely talented people whilst I was on the outskirts of the world of showbiz, that I didn’t have what it takes to compete on their territory at a reasonable level.

A series of meetings took place during which the residents came together like never before (and rarely since) and we made good progress.

As for finding somewhere to practice, I was offered a partnership by Dr Kanuvhai Patel who ran a practice (in a converted house) in Champion’s Way. This offer was later withdrawn and he told me it was because he was under pressure from the Family Practitioners Committee to do so. The FPC’s behaviour hitherto gave credibility to Dr Patel’s explanation. Thereafter I played the game by the same rules as the FPC which didn’t please ’em.

All GPs with the sense with which they were born know that the way to get on is to keep your head down and not criticise management no matter how inept. I never got the hang of that

The FPC did, however, allow me to set up in practice at my home in Woodham Ferrers … so we converted a bedroom and my wife, Sue (who was 6 month’s pregnant) was the receptionist, the nurse and general factotum. We didn’t think anybody would come … but they did, including a one legged man who walked up the hill from SWF. It meant we were on call 24/7 but our patients were sympathetic so we did get some sleep. In the era before mobile phones, though, it did mean that we were tied to a landline at all times – so somebody always had to be in the house. We did enjoy one gloriously quiet weekend … not a single request for advice or a visit. On Sunday night I became suspicious and checked the phone. It was dead. The cause – our Labrador pup had chewed through the cable. Fortunately there hadn’t been any emergencies!

Tune in for next week’s exciting instalment!

Dr John Cormack