shook her head. 'I'm fine,' she said firmly. 'Being in here, there's just less to keep me distracted, I think. I go to see them every month anyway.'
'I've got clinics all day but I'll be up to see you when they finish before you go tonight,' Annabel told her. She quickly explained to the younger doctors the changes she'd made to Daisy's treatment. 'How many admissions is that, then, these past six months?' she asked her SHO outside Daisy's room.
'Four.' Mark ran back through Daisy's notes, checking. 'Four plus that one time she only needed to stay a couple of hours.'
Annabel nodded. 'Better ECHO her again this afternoon,' she told her registrar, referring to a type of heart scan, similar to the sort used during pregnancy to see the baby. An ECHO would provide valuable information on both the size of Daisy's heart and the way it was functioning. She'd scanned her personally in clinic the day before but it would be useful to have a further measurement of how she was coping after twenty-four hours' intensive treatment.
With the lecture and with her clinics so busy that afternoon, she wouldn't have time to do the scan herself, but Hannah was a relatively senior registrar with two years of specialist training in cardiology behind her and she was skilled at the procedure. 'Just remind me you need to leave early from clinic later on so you can fit it in,' she instructed.
The rest of her ward round—M and J were her main wards but she had patients scattered throughout the four main medical wards, as well as two currently on transplant wards and three in Intensive Care—progressed smoothly but her patient load was currently very high and both she and Hannah—leaving the ward work to Mark—were still late getting down to Outpatients.
She neither expected nor wanted, and she certainly hadn't asked for, Luke's help with the session, and when she saw him ensconced in the examination room she usually used herself, she drew herself up sharply, thrown momentarily off balance by her body's sudden nervous, heart-skipping reaction to seeing him. 'What are you doing here?'
'Harry,' he responded blandly, meeting her shocked regard with frustrating equanimity. 'He thinks I should get my feet wet. He decided Outpatients would be a good place to start.'
Annabel felt like asking when he had started taking orders from anyone but himself, but, of course, that would have been deliberately provocative and since she was determined to avoid arguing with him she held her tongue. 'Fine,' she replied stiffly instead. 'Is there anything you'd like to tell me about any of my patients or have you taken them out of my hands completely?'
'Don't turn territorial on me, Annie.' The tightening around his mouth suggested he'd sensed her reaction even if she was doing her best to mask it. 'You're not under threat. The two men I've looked at so far have been general referrals to the hospital, not personal ones to your clinic or follow-ups. Believe me, I am aware of the basic principles of ethical medical practice.'
'Oh, I'm sure you know a list of them by heart,' she retorted with what she felt was creditable pleasantness, considering he'd just called her Annie again, taken over her office and, probably, at least a third of her clinic as well.
New referrals to the hospital for advice on management of both private and public system patients with heart dis ease made up a significant portion of their clinic workload. Those intended for particular consultants were allocated to them, of course, but patients with general referrals tended to be distributed evenly among the teams by the administrative staff.
Her own clinics were invariably overloaded, and in normal circumstances she'd have been grateful for help, but, knowing that help was coming from Luke, it made it more difficult for her to appreciate it.
Nevertheless, she managed a small smile. 'I'll just take the office next door,' she said sweetly, collecting herself, along with the stack of notes on the
'I've got clinics all day but I'll be up to see you when they finish before you go tonight,' Annabel told her. She quickly explained to the younger doctors the changes she'd made to Daisy's treatment. 'How many admissions is that, then, these past six months?' she asked her SHO outside Daisy's room.
'Four.' Mark ran back through Daisy's notes, checking. 'Four plus that one time she only needed to stay a couple of hours.'
Annabel nodded. 'Better ECHO her again this afternoon,' she told her registrar, referring to a type of heart scan, similar to the sort used during pregnancy to see the baby. An ECHO would provide valuable information on both the size of Daisy's heart and the way it was functioning. She'd scanned her personally in clinic the day before but it would be useful to have a further measurement of how she was coping after twenty-four hours' intensive treatment.
With the lecture and with her clinics so busy that afternoon, she wouldn't have time to do the scan herself, but Hannah was a relatively senior registrar with two years of specialist training in cardiology behind her and she was skilled at the procedure. 'Just remind me you need to leave early from clinic later on so you can fit it in,' she instructed.
The rest of her ward round—M and J were her main wards but she had patients scattered throughout the four main medical wards, as well as two currently on transplant wards and three in Intensive Care—progressed smoothly but her patient load was currently very high and both she and Hannah—leaving the ward work to Mark—were still late getting down to Outpatients.
She neither expected nor wanted, and she certainly hadn't asked for, Luke's help with the session, and when she saw him ensconced in the examination room she usually used herself, she drew herself up sharply, thrown momentarily off balance by her body's sudden nervous, heart-skipping reaction to seeing him. 'What are you doing here?'
'Harry,' he responded blandly, meeting her shocked regard with frustrating equanimity. 'He thinks I should get my feet wet. He decided Outpatients would be a good place to start.'
Annabel felt like asking when he had started taking orders from anyone but himself, but, of course, that would have been deliberately provocative and since she was determined to avoid arguing with him she held her tongue. 'Fine,' she replied stiffly instead. 'Is there anything you'd like to tell me about any of my patients or have you taken them out of my hands completely?'
'Don't turn territorial on me, Annie.' The tightening around his mouth suggested he'd sensed her reaction even if she was doing her best to mask it. 'You're not under threat. The two men I've looked at so far have been general referrals to the hospital, not personal ones to your clinic or follow-ups. Believe me, I am aware of the basic principles of ethical medical practice.'
'Oh, I'm sure you know a list of them by heart,' she retorted with what she felt was creditable pleasantness, considering he'd just called her Annie again, taken over her office and, probably, at least a third of her clinic as well.
New referrals to the hospital for advice on management of both private and public system patients with heart dis ease made up a significant portion of their clinic workload. Those intended for particular consultants were allocated to them, of course, but patients with general referrals tended to be distributed evenly among the teams by the administrative staff.
Her own clinics were invariably overloaded, and in normal circumstances she'd have been grateful for help, but, knowing that help was coming from Luke, it made it more difficult for her to appreciate it.
Nevertheless, she managed a small smile. 'I'll just take the office next door,' she said sweetly, collecting herself, along with the stack of notes on the
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