The Doctor Who Sent Too Many People to Foodbank

This story was inspired by an article in the Evening Standard several years ago in which
a doctor claimed that he saw the same kind of illnesses in London that he had seen in
Africa.  I have referred to a real 24 hour drop in medical practice in Sheffield city centre
and used the name of a real charity that provides emergency food to familes (Foodbank) as
without these the story wouldn't make sense.  The story is set at some time in the future and
neither the working conditions of a Sheffield doctor or the attitudes of Foodbank (as I am
writing this in 2015) are as bad as those described here.  Also bear in mind that it is not
unusual for a charity to turn some people away if they don't have enough resources.
The behaviour of Foodbank in this story is not meant to be purely vindicitve.  This story
is intended as a warning of the direction in which social conditions in Britain are going
and how things might eventually become.

Sometimes being a doctor in Sheffield is not much different to being a doctor in Bangladesh.
I get the same kind of illnesses.
"The iron level in your blood is low.  Do you eat properly?"
"No doctor.  I haven't had a good meal for days.  I live on my own in a 2 bedroom flat.  I pay the
bedroom tax."
"Get down to the foodbank," I say, and give them a letter.  When people bring their children
I measure and weigh them.
"I'm a little bit concerned about little Timmy, Mrs Thymne.  He's short for his age and he's a
little underweight.  Is he eating properly?"
"Only at school.  Not at home.  We've no money.  The council say we have too many
bedrooms.  We have to pay the bedroom tax."  I write another letter for Foodbank.

This is the 24 hour health centre.  Like most GPs I work in a surgery but due to all the cut
backs they can't give me full time hours.  I moonlight here.  The surgery where I work is full
of signs on the wall and leaflets.  "Need a doctor in a hurry?  Use the 24 hour Drop In."  It's
only a £5 bus ticket away.  If you go there you'll only have to wait 3 hours.  If you want to see
a doctor here you'll have to make an appointment and you'll have to wait 3 weeks.  At the
24 hour drop in I work 4 and a half hour shifts.  If I worked 6 hours they'd be legally required
to give me a break.  I'm required to sit in the office until another doctor arrives to replace me.
That means working 9 hours or even 13 and a half hours when other doctors are off sick.  I
keep a bottle of mineral water and a bag of nuts on my desk for emergencies.  I can have a
few minutes break if I really need one.  Until I press the button to say I'm finished they won't
send anybody else.

Jenny the manager is a few years younger than me.  She's so far unmarried, so am I, and I
like her a lot.  She looks beautiful when she's angry.  Today she's exquisitely, gorgeously
angry.
"What's the matter Jenny?" I love calling her by her first name.
"Dr. Chowdhury, you are sending too many people to Foodbank.  Foodbank can't cope with
the number of referrals they're getting from doctors anymore.  They're starting to complain."
"Jenny, I thought the rules were that you could have a letter for Foodbank if your doctor
diagnosed malnutrition."
"You're diagnosing it too often.  Don't give everybody a blood test every time they see you.
Don't weigh all the children and measure them every time they come.  Wait until the patient
actually says, I am ill, or, I am worried about my child.  Then do the blood test or measure
the child's height and weight.  Only then."

I was wrong.  Being a doctor in Sheffield is not like being a doctor in Bangladesh.  In
Bangladesh, if a service like Foodbank existed, we'd have more compassion.
Perhaps I should go back to Bangladesh.  But I'm needed here.