The NHS, Then and Now

June 1974

Aged 19, I turned up on a Saturday morning, no appointment, to see the GP who'd known me since before I was born. Just sit in the waiting room and you'd be called in order of arrival. Lovely man, Dr. N, with a handlebar moustache, a bow tie and a pristine white coat. He was usually smoking a pipe during consultations. One of his five sons had been at the same school as me. 

After a quick examination the doc handed me a prescription and said, "Try this for a week and pop in next Saturday if things are no better". On hearing that I wasn't available next Saturday because I was getting married, he leapt to his feet, threw his arms around me and said "My dear girl, I'm so pleased for you!" 

The medication worked, as he knew it would; I never saw Dr. N again because I moved away after the wedding.

April 11 2024

I don't know if my GP still works at the surgery or even if he's still alive. However, I rang this morning to ask for an appointment. After explaining my symptoms to a completely uninterested receptionist, she asked me to send a photo of the offending body-part and informed me in her best I-couldn't-care-less voice, "Someone will ring you back". 

Someone...? Which particular someone? Doctor, nurse, part-time cleaner? I said "Thank you very much", although why I was thanking her I don't know.

90 minutes later the in-house pharmacist rang, asked me to go through the symptoms again and told me to send a picture. 

"I already have", I said. "Really?" came the reply. 

The very valuable medical advice she gave me was "Take ibuprofen and come back to us if there's still a problem."

I've just booked an appointment with a private GP...

To calm my fury I went into the kitchen and made a big batch of this Spiced Butternut and Lentil soup for lunch. Highly recommended and it makes loads!

Jam Sponge Pudding

Yesterday was allegedly the first day of meteorological spring; it poured with rain almost all day. Winter's over, they said... so perhaps someone could tell the weather! Good grief, will it ever stop raining?! Much more of it and we'll all grow webbed feet!

Sometimes comfort food is needed and there's few things more comforting than a sponge pudding with an obscene amount of custard.

As I've mentioned in the past Mr S-V loves a sponge pudding (I'm quite partial to one myself, actually!) so when I saw this recipe from Nigel Slater it looked just the thing. Scroll past all the meaty stuff and go to the last one on the page.

It's as easy as anything and, serendipitously, I had all the ingredients in the pantry, including some home-made plum jam from our own plums. I hope our two trees will come up trumps for me again this year - there's nothing quite like Victoria plums for jam.

I halved the recipe, as you can see below, and steamed it for about an hour to make a pudding more suited to the two of us, and I've paraphrased Nigel's method - he's very wordy!

75g butter

75g caster sugar 

1 large egg 

75g self-raising flour 

1 level tsp ground cinnamon

1 level tsp ground ginger

finely grated zest of half a lemon

1 tbsp milk

2 heaped tbsp blackcurrant, plum or apricot jam

Cut a disc of baking parchment to fit the base of a 1 pint pudding basin. Rub a little butter around the inside of the basin.

Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer till pale and fluffy. Beat the egg lightly and add a little at a time to the butter and sugar, mixing well between each addition. 

Sieve together the flour and spices, then mix into the butter and sugar with the lemon zest. Stir in the milk. Spoon the jam into the base of the pudding basin, then scoop the pudding mixture on top. Level the top a bit with the back of a spoon.

Cover the basin tightly with a square of baking parchment, then a square of double foil. You can tie it on if you like but I don't bother. Stand the basin on an upturned saucer in a pan of boiling water and pop the lid on. Only use enough water to come halfway up the basin. Simmer gently for about an hour.

Leave the basin in the water for 15 minutes to allow the pudding to settle, then turn it out carefully on to a plate. 

Serve with custard... lots of custard, and ignore the vile weather outside!