Last week at the end of a triage call a patient said, ‘thank you — I really feel you have listened to me’. The feedback meant a lot to me on a day when I was struggling a bit to keep ahead and helped me to stop for a moment and reflect on what our role in primary care is all about. It’s holistic, it’s often the patient’s first port of call and it’s important to the
people who reach out to us for help. Reading this issue’s ‘practice matters’ discussion about food insecurity, I have reflected further that it’s not just listening that we need to do, but rather use all of our senses to help us in our role and let us see the bigger picture that is required for good general practice consultations.