A blogpost on general practice in the UK would not be complete without a smiling person with a stethoscope, in the same way that all articles on dementia must have wrinkly hands on display.

I have nothing particularly clever to say about primary care at this point.

But have I ever mentioned that I do love GPs?

My regular Doctor, Stuart, whom I virtually always see, knows my medical history backwards. And it’s not for the ‘faint hearted’.

I became physically disabled at the age of 33, during a two month coma, successfully managed on the ITU of the Royal Free in Hampstead.

Stuart knows I am no longer depressed.

Stuart knows I have had no epileptic fits since I gave up drinking alcohol.

Stuart knows I’ve been in recovery from a severe alcohol dependence syndrome for about seven years now. He can do whatever gamma glutaryl transferase levels he wants to look for surrepticious drinking, if he so wishes.

Primary care does intrigue me, as my late father whom I adored was a single-handed GP outside of Brighton for about 30 years. Things have changed a lot. I dare they’re about to be transformed again.

I am also an asthmatic, and therefore I was lapping up all the media missives about being empowered by the NHS.

I craftily got an emergency appointment the same day by phoning up at 8.30 am.

The GP I saw (not Stuart) was excellent.

Admittedly, I gave a perfect history of someone who needed to be stepped up from the British Thoracic Society guidelines for asthma, from inhaled salbutamol to inhaled salbutamol and inhaled steroid.

I left with a prescription for clenil – #happy.

I might have overplayed my hand. At one point, I was dangerously close to being referred for spirometry. “I am a lifelong non-smoker”, I declared emphatically!

Ho hum, but living with various chronic conditions does give me a lot of insight in how the NHS functions behind all the shouting of Westminster.

I moaned on Twitter yesterday that I might have to have my inhaler technique checked to get my prescription for clenil.

A GP educator commented wryly, “We’re in a no-win situation. We’re complacent if we don’t assess you, we’re obstructive if we do.”

Anyway – stet – I love GPs.

Please, if you’re a GP, vote in the RCGP elections. Four of them follow me on Twitter.

For once, I am saying nothing.

Trisha GREENHALGH, Simon GREGORY, Clare GERADA, Mayur LAKHANI, Philip WILLIAMS, Martin MARSHALL, David MUMMERY Joanne REEVE, Steve MOWLE, Clare TAYLOR, John COSGROVE, Stuart SANDERS, Sue RENDEL, Mary LOWTH, John CHISHOLM, Chandra KANNEGANTI, Elaine McNAUGHTON, Martin BRUNET, Hussain GANDHI and Stephanie de GIORGIO.